A Cast Shadow
by JenniferMarie20
Summary: "It seems the machine caused temporal instability in the nature of reality. In order to not shatter, it pulled our young Frisk to this time, which relieved pressure on the structure of the timeline and result in only some minor side effects." "You coulda died." Jack sighed. "Very nearly!" Gaster said excitedly, "In fact of all the possible outcomes, this was the most unlikely.."
1. Entry 1

(notes: This story will contain: Manipulation and medical experimentation. It will update weekly on Wednesdays)

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Entry 1:

Frisk

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The air was getting cold. As the sun dipped below the ridge line, the dimmest glimmer of stars could be seen, twinkling in the fading blue. Frisk rubbed their arms and glanced around, ducking around the small scruffy pines dotting the side of Mt. Ebbot. By chance, they happened to spot a darker shadow in amongst the lichen-covered stone of the mountain face and hurried towards it. It was the entrance to a cave, mostly hidden by a boulder and a stone outcropping, too small for an adult but a child could just slip inside.

Frisk held their breath and wiggled through the gap. Their hand went to their pocket and pulled out a small plastic flashlight. They clicked it on and for a brief moment, the halo of light revealed a large, open stone cavern, the top cracked and letting in the barest hints of light now but would fill the cave with the sun at noon. Gnarled tree roots and vines crawled across the cave floor.

Their flashlight flickered. Frisk shook it. The light stabilized for a moment, then went out and left them in the dark. They shook it again and hit the end with their palm, the light bounced out of their hand like a fish, the light flickering briefly in mockery as it spun away from them. Frisk stepped forward, hand outstretched to catch it but there was no ground beneath their foot and they fell.

Down through a black hole. Their heart raced, stomach in their throat as every inch of their body tensed for impact. That never came. The falling stopped and the darkness deepened. Frisk almost felt like they were floating at first but they could barely move, the darkness held them in place like a pinned butterfly. Their ears began to feel too tight, aching with intense pain that spread through their head as if it were suddenly too tight, too small. All they could hear was ringing that slowly grew louder and louder and they wanted to scream and scream but couldn't open their mouth, couldn't breath.

Something snapped and they fell a thousand miles in a single heartbeat, never moving.

They came to laying on a hard smooth surface that felt like tile, ears ringing, head pounding with little spots in their vision. It was dark. Around them was the uncanny whine and incessant beep of machine warnings. The floor was gritty. As they breathed in they could smell smoke and taste dust.

Frisk coughed and tried to pushed themselves up but weight pressed against their back. There was nothing in front of them so they pulled themselves forward on their their arms until they were free of the debris. Lights blinked, red and blue, and electricity sparked and arced from broken wires. One wall was covered by large monitors, most of which were broken but a few flickered faintly, providing most of the light in the room. All the machines, broken and mangled though they were, seemed strange, old and different, like an old movie's idea of the future.

Frisk looked up. The ceiling was smooth concrete, there was no cave above them.

They jumped as they heard a faint groan and looked around. In front of the bank of monitors there was a figure, crumpled on the ground. He was very tall and thin, clothed mostly in black except for a high collared white shirt that peaked out above his long black coat. They stepped closer. The man didn't seem to be breathing and his head was smooth white like bone.

But they _had_ heard him groan. Frisk swallowed hard and crept closer. They carefully stepped around his hand, also white as bone, smooth and thin. There was a perfect hole in the center of palm, like a cookie cutter circle. Frisk shivered and knelt down beside him, and saw his face.

They startled backwards, sharp debris biting into their hands that made them wince and hiss in pain. The strange man didn't move. Frisk forced themselves to relax and lean forward once again. The man had a face like a mask, smooth and white, his closed eyes were dark crescents and a smooth thin line marked out his mouth. He had no nose, no eyebrows. The only marks Frisk could see in the dim light was a thin crack running from the top of his head, through one eye and a smaller crack under his other eye running down to his mouth. As Frisk watched him, they could see small movements, twitches, his brows drawing together as if in pain. Despite looking like a mask, his face had a strange plasticity to it and moved as easily as Frisk's own skin.

They reached out and tapped the strange man's shoulder.

The furrow in his brow deepened and he frowned slightly.

Frisk pressed against his shoulder and shook him lightly.

He groaned and shifted.

They stared, fascinated, as his face moved and changed shape, wincing in pain, he braced himself as he slowly pulled his eyes open. The left eye with the crack running through it only partially opened and he winced in pain again. His eyes were black and endless like the inside of a skull, as he blinked, pupils formed, spots of white amid the black.

Frisk felt they ought to be afraid but they felt strangely calm, strangely determined. They didn't know where they were or how they had gotten there, but this strange person might.

His eyes focused on Frisk and stared. He said in a deep, smooth voice, "...Hello, little one."


	2. Entry 2

Entry 2:

Gaster

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The small face hovering in front of Gaster radiated curiosity. It was attached to a small person, and a human at that. He hadn't seen a human since the war, when he had been quite young. Well, a live human anyway.

He braced his hands and slowly sat up. A hundred little aches and stinging pains made themselves known as he moved. His face was the worst, a blinding hot line of pain that ran through his left eye. He touched the source of the pain gingerly, and traced it with his fingertips. It was a crack, starting from the top of his head and terminating at the top of his left eye which he could no long fully open. It was such an unfortunate and annoying problem. He was certain it wouldn't impede his work once he got used to it but... He sighed and shifted his focus to the significantly more interesting thing right in front of him.

The human child was still watching him. The intensity of their stare brought to mind the focused gaze of a domestic cat. They had loosely curled brown hair that hung to their chin in a delightful mess. They were wearing a blue and pink shirt and a pair of blue overalls, clipped over only one shoulder. They would be at least a decade old but could be older.

"May I ask where you came from?" He asked them.

They twisted slightly on their feet and pointed to a pile of debris across the room.

He smiled patiently, "I see. And before that? I'm quite certain there was no one else in this room before I started the experiment."

The human's brow furrowed and they looked at him in confusion. They sighed and said, "I was climbing Mt. Ebbott. It was getting dark so I went into a cave. I dropped my flashlight and when I tried to grab it, I fell." Their brow furrowed further and they bit their bottom lip, "I don't know what happened after that. I wasn't falling, everything was still and felt tight like there wasn't enough room in my body and when it went woosh, I was here."

Anticipation boiled in his chest, "What year is it?" he asked.

They looked at him suspiciously, "...21XY."

Gaster smiled. Wonderful. He asked them, "What is your name, dear child?"

"Frisk." They said.

"It is wonderful to meet you, Frisk." He said brushing the dust from his jacket, "I am W.D. Gaster. You may call me whatever you find most convenient. Are you hurt in any way?"

They shook their head, "I'm ok."

"I'm glad." he said cheerfully.

There was muffled shouting from outside the room and the grate of metal on metal as a crowbar was applied to the door.

Gaster looked towards the sound, "It appears the door short circuited in all the fuss. I'm certain my assistants will have it open shortly." He shifted to sit on a clear spot on the floor but didn't attempt to stand. His height tended to make children uneasy. He told them, "It seems I shall have to be the one to inform you that you are currently in the Underground."

"The Underground?" Frisk repeated.

He nodded, "The Underground is home to all the Monsters left in the world. Centuries past we were sealed here after a large and rather brutal war. Most of the Monsters were killed while none of the humans took any direct casualties. It was quite a one sided fight."

Frisk stared at him as the information slowly sank in.

"I can assure you that I will see to your safety personally." He told them.

"You're a monster?" Frisk asked.

"Indeed." he held out his hands, "A skeleton monster, though, I seem to have undergone some significant changes." He turned his hands over and spread his fingers. His phalanges had fused together. He pushed up his sleeve and observed that the bones of his wrist had fused together as well. It was altogether one smooth piece, reminiscent of human physiology, only thinner. He bent his wrist and folded his fingers. The change wasn't restrictive. In fact it was as fluid as before. There was on apparent change in visual representation when he moved a joint, no folds or creases, as when fleshed moved. It appeared that the fundamental characteristics of his matter composition had be altered by the explosion.

The human, Frisk, reached out and Gaster held his hand to them. They touched the side of his palm. The pads of their fingers were soft and warmer than a monster could ever be, due their inefficient matter focused energy exchange.

The door creaked and groaned as his assistants finally managed to get a pry bar between the door and frame and force it open.

Gaster stood up and dusted himself off, "Shall we go?"

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(notes: Updates weekly on Wednesdays. Reviews are always loved and appreciated!)


	3. Entry 3

Entry 3:

Frisk

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Frisk looked up, and up. W.D. Gaster was very tall, seven feet certainly, maybe even more. They couldn't remember meeting anyone that tall before. He was watching them patiently, a mixture of curiosity and kindness, a gentle smile on his face.

He walked over the door as it creaked open and Frisk followed behind him, keeping to the shadows of his robes.

The door pushed fully open and a the first one to step through was monster lady who looked a lot like a giant cat. She was as tall as an adult human, with orange fur, tipped white. She was wearing a white lab coat over a grey turtleneck, dark slacks and calf high boots. She recoiled at the sight of Gaster, "Dr.! Are you ok?!"

A short figure, about Frisk height pushed past the cat lady and grimaced at the sight of his boss. "Geez, doc." He shook his head. He looked like a gingerbread man from the front, with green-grey hued skin and a face that seemed to imply permanent annoyance. He was also wearing a labcoat, over what looked a lot like sweatpants and a sweatshirt, faded black and stained by strange chemicals.

Behind the two of them, looming even taller than Gaster was a thing out of the most disquieting of dreams. It was an amorphous blob of a creature, off white, that looked more like a giant floating head than a whole creature. Its shape shifted and moved like it was made jello but it looked like plastic. Their eyes, wide, slow blinking circles, hung on the top of their face-body as if they had been stuck on, like a child's art project. A long thin line appeared and parted, widening into a dark cavernous opening and said, "...Dr. Gaster..." Their voice was deep and solemn and seemed to be coming from a long way away, "...You're hurt..." They spoke with such a sad voice, filled with concern.

Slowly, Frisk felt their anxiety melt away. The monsters were all strange and different but they weren't scary, not really. They were so worried about Gaster, they hadn't even noticed Frisk.

"You did the experiment didn't you? The one we all agreed was far too risky." The green monster shook his head.

"Oh certainly," Gaster said calmly, "That is why I waited until you were all occupied to attempt it."

The cat lady groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Of course you did," the green man sighed, "why should I expect anything else?"

The cat lady said, "Regardless of you being reckless and completely obtuse, we need to get a healer done here-"

"No." Gaster waved her comment away, "There are far more important things to do right now. Analyzing the data from the experiment is our top priority. The inner workings of the computers seem to be untouched, everything from the experiment needs to be transferred. I want a print out of the primary analytics-"

"DR." The cat lady cut him off, grabbed him by the lapel of his coat and dragged him from the room and down the hall followed close behind by the other assistants.

Frisk glanced around the crumbling, sparking room briefly, then quietly followed after them. The narrow, dark corridors lit up ahead of the group, the light flickering on as they approached and buzzing faintly as they walked under them. The cat lady turned, pulling Gaster into a doorway. Frisk paused outside to read the plaque beside the door which read 'Employee Lounge.' Below the plaque someone had taped a piece of paper that read, 'crying/napping/sleeping room.' In the corner of the the piece of paper someone had added on, 'Gaster timeout room', that had been crossed out with a pen and written beside it, even tinier, with an arrow pointing at the crossed out line, 'not funny Sans.'

Frisk peeked their head into the room.

It was a large room. In one corner there was a refrigerator and a large round table. Some beat up looking lockers were set against the wall and there were a few plants in the corners looking scraggily. Most of the room was filled with beds, neatly made with white sheets and pink comforters, that looked strangely out of place.

The cat lady forcefully guided Gaster to the nearest bed where he sat on the edge more out of curtsy than anything else. He seemed to be resigned to humoring them. "Is this really necessary, Koshka?" he sighed.

"Have you seen your face?!" she snapped.

"I do not in fact, have a mirror," he said dismissively, "nor do I care. Do I strike you as vain in the slightest? Hah. Indeed."

"Vanity was not the point."

"Then what is the point, exactly, Koshka? Initial observations would indicate that the experiment overloading and failing caused some level of molecular instability that changed composition of my matter. I'm as interested as anyone in running a full compliment of tests but it's not the priority right now. It's not going to kill me and we have a lot of work to do."

"...Dr..." The amorphous being said in a terribly sad voice.

"Not to worry, Gob. My left eye has lost some visibility but I believe I shall adapt to it in time... Right now, I need to think." He patted his jacket pocket and frowned, "Do any of you have-?"

The green man sighed and rummaged around in his lab coat pockets, pulling out a few neon colored lollipops wrapped in clear plastic.

"Ah, thank you, Jack." Gaster said, taking them all and plucking the wrapper off a lime green disk and sticking it in his mouth. He fanned out the remaining three candies and held them out, "Would you care for one, Frisk?"

The assistants followed his gaze and turned around, and jumped back.

Frisk glanced around the ring of assistants, all staring at them like they were a deadly snake.

Gaster waited patiently, his kind expression never waving.

They shuffled forward and regarded the candies, taking a bright pink one and pulling off the wrapper. They licked it and shivered, it was sour, a lemonady strawberry sort of flavor. They loved sour flavors and stuck the sucker in their mouth happily.

Gaster beamed at them and patted the edge of the bed beside himself.

Frisk sat next to him, huddling in on themselves as the other monsters stared at them like they were rabid.

"What the heck is going on, doc?" Jack asked, "That's, that's a human, isn't it?"

"Hmmm?" Gaster said faintly, lost in thought, "...Yes, Jack. I commend you on the use of your eyes. Your salary is money well spent indeed."

Jack narrowed his eyes, "Har har, doc. You know what I mean."

"Do I now?" He replied, eyes closed.

Koshka shook her head, "You might as well be talking to a brick wall when he's got his candy. You shouldn't have given it to him."

"Then he would've been cranky and useless." Jack muttered.

"...I'll go..." Gob started drifting back towards the door, "...print reports..."

"Thank you, Gob." Koshka said. She knelt down in front of Frisk and said gently, "Hello, what's your name?"

"Frisk." They said softly.

"Hello, Frisk." Koshka smiled, "I am Koshka, this is Jack-" she gestured to the green man with the permanent scowl- "Could you tell me where you came from?"

"I don't know." Frisk said, "Could I just tell you what I told him?" they pointed to Gaster.

"Yes. That would be very helpful."

Frisk quietly repeated everything they had told Gaster. As they did, Koshka leaned back and shared a glance with Jack.

"So you weren't in the lab when the accident happened and it was the year 21XY before you came here?" Jack asked his scowl deepening.

They looked at one another. Frisk frowned, it was one of those adult looks that said they were very, very wrong but they weren't going to say anything because it will upset the kid.

"What year is it?" Frisk asked.

Jack opened his mouth to answer and Koshka shot him a glare.

"Please." Frisk said solemnly, "it's obviously not 21XY and I would like to know."

Koshka sighed and reluctantly said, "21XX."

"Oh." Frisk said, the weird old electronics made a lot more sense now.

"Do you really like that thing?" Jack asked, pointing at the sucker.

Koshka jostled him with her elbow and hissed, "This is not the time, Jack!"

Frisk nodded, "I like sour things."

"Well whadayaknow," Jack said, "I didn't think anyone liked those things other than the doc."

Gaster placed a hand on Frisk's head and he pulled the lollipop stick from his mouth, "How old are you, poppet?"

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(notes: Updates weekly on Wednesdays. Reviews are always loved and appreciated!)


	4. Entry 4

Entry 4: Gaster

"Eleven," Frisk said, "Almost Twelve."

"Not too young then," He smoothed their hair, "Older than Papyrus but younger than Sans." He pushed the lollypop stick into Jack's hand, "You shall have to meet my sons. They are my joy. I'm certain you'll get along splendidly."

Jack sighed, rolled his eyes and stuffed the trash in his pocket.

Koshka stood back up and firmly putting her hands on her waist, using her no-nonsense stance which was amusing, "Dr. Gaster. They're human, you can't just adopt them."

"Someone has to look after them. You have a child, do you not, Koshka," Gaster said smoothly, "He's still just a tiny thing, you still haven't brought him to the office to visit."

"You're deflecting," She narrowed her eyes, "You know what King Asgore decreed... And there's no way I would bring my little Briuchki to this death trap."

"Asgore is far too rash." Gaster said, annoyance coloring his tone, "Besides, he has no real interest in killing humans or actually going to war with them. He'd quite happily keep up locked down here forever if he could, safe in our little bubble."

Frisk pulled his hand off the top of their head and clutched it tight, eyes wide.

"Not to worry." Gaster said, curling his fingers around their small hand, "I did say, didn't I? I shall personally see to you safety."

Frisk relaxed but kept hold of his hand. He smiled. "Speaking of safety, we shall have to restrict access to the lower levels. Only the assistants and, perhaps the interns..." His eyes narrowed in thought and he ignored the pinch of pain that went through the crack in his skull, "...I am not sure about young Alphys. She is clever but she has just started, I don't know if I can trust her." He waved his free hand flippantly, "None-the-less, we shall have to alter the elevators, some sort of keycard system." He looked down at Jack, "You and Alphys can start work on something today. It shall be a wonderful practical application of real world skills."

The shadows of exhaustion seemed to deep under Jack's eyes as he said, "Any sorta specifications?"

Gaster smiled slightly, "I leave it to your discretion."

"Right you are, doc," Jack sighed.

God slowly glided back into the room, papers clutched in a small nubby, glob hand.

"The reports?" He started to stand, "Fantastic, I'll-"

Koshka put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back on the bed, "I'll get them." She stalked over to Gob, plucking the papers away and retuned, smacking them against Gaster's chest.

He pressed his hands over the printouts and let go of the child's hand to look through them more closely.

"...Are you sure you won't see a healer, doc?" Jack asked without much hope in his voice.

"Unnecessary." Gaster said dismissively, turning to the next page without looking up.

Koshka and Jack shared a long suffering expression. Gob made a sad little rumble as they reached the group once more.

Gaster noticed Frisk was trying to look at the printouts. He smiled and lower them so the little dear could see. He highly doubted that they would be able to make anything of them, even Sans would find it quite a challenge and he was astonishingly intelligent.

"I suspected as much..." Gaster tapped the page, "it seems the machine exploding caused the timeline to become unstable. In order for reality not to collapse in on that point in time, it pulled our young Frisk back in time which, relieved the pressure on the timeline with only minor side effects."

"Your face melting is not a minor side effect, doc. You coulda died." Jack sighed.

"Very nearly!" Gaster said his eyes gleaming, "In fact, of all possible outcomes, this was the most unlikely, an astronomically small chance. Death would have been a blessing, the statistically more likely outcome of that explosion, was the timeline shattering and then rebuilding in the same moment, without us in it. We would have been erased from reality itself." He turned back to the previous page, rescanning the data with avid interest, "Fascinating isn't it? Think of everything we can glean from this-"

"Pop?" A distressed voice asked from behind them.

Gaster turned and smiled, "Sans! Is school out already? Today has been incredible thus far!"

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(Notes: Updates weekly on Wednesdays. Reviews are always loved and appreciated!)


	5. Entry 5

(Notes: Updated and Rewritten 8/30/16. Now longer, contains an additional page of story. There were some small plot and character changes as well.)

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Entry 5: Frisk

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Frisk turned on the bed and saw a small skeleton, a little taller than themselves. He was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and a pair of faded shorts. He had a backpack that was crumpled like there wasn't much inside, and there was a lab coat draped over one arm. He was kind of round in a way that made him look chubby even though he was just bone.

Sans stared at Gaster, his eye lights jumped across Gaster's injuries and his new appearance, "what happened to you?!"

"The machine exploded and there was a temporal distortion that caused my molecular make up to change." Gaster said. He held up the papers in his hands, "You should see the readings."

"He did the experiment." Koshka said tiredly.

"The one we cancelled indefinitely for being dangerous and stupid." Jack muttered, "Doc, only you'd be stupid enough to-"

"...Jack..." Gob said as sternly as their distant sad voice could manage.

Sans hurried around the bed, dropping his backpack on the ground as he went, "pops, you're hurt! why would you- has he seen a healer?" he asked the assistants.

"He refused," Koshka said, laying her ears back flat in annoyance.

"Of course I refused." Gaster sighed, tapping the papers, "They can't fix it and I can't have them down here. No one is allowed down here without express permission. I won't put Frisk at risk."

"frisk?" Sans' brow furrowed and he looked over at them for the first time, "this kid? what's this kid have to do with anything?"

"Oh!" Gaster clapped his hands together, "This would be the first time you've seen a human, is it not? Sans, this is Frisk, they're human," He gestured to them, "It appears when the experiment went wrong they were pulled from the future which stabilized the timeline so it didn't shatter."

"...and erase you from reality?" Sans said sounding sick.

"You needn't sound so dramatic, Sans," Gaster said, "If it had happened, you wouldn't have retained any memory of me. So there wouldn't be anything to be upset about." He paused and absently ran his thumb around one of the round circles in his palm, "...Actually... if anyone would have remembered us afterwards it would be you. Considering your proximity and D.T. resonance. I retract the previous statement."

Sans' pupils contracted to pinpoints and he ran a shaky hand over his head.

"Ah, my dear boy." Gaster smiled gently and held his arms open, "Come here."

Sans sighed and reluctantly walked over.

Gaster hugged him and patted his head fondly, "It was not my intention to upset you. I hate to see you upset."

Sans reached up and clutched Gaster's sleeve, pressing his forehead into him, mumbling so softly only Frisk and Gaster could hear, "you're all we've got, y'know?"

"I shall do my best to take more care in the future." Gaster said, letting go and patting Sans on the head before picking up the reports back up. "Did you drop Papyrus off at home?"

Sans sighed and stepped back, "penny can't watch him tuesdays and thursdays, remember? he's in the upper labs with alphys, riding the conveyer belts." He shook the lab coat out and pulled it on over his hoodie, "...pap's gonna cry when he sees you." Sans said with a shake of his head.

Gaster's brow furrowed, "We shall have to make sure Papyrus has enough to keep him busy upstairs, crayons, paper, something; on the days he's here."

"Yeah, sure." Jack said, "I'll head up-"

"you can't be serious." Sans said.

"Sans." Gaster said, "The safety of the human comes first, I can't have anyone down here that might compromise their-"

"pops." Sans said with exasperation, "papyrus has no idea what a human looks like." He looked at his father pointedly, "if you don't tell him, he'll just think the kid's a monster. he's five. he'll believe anything."

Gaster blinked. "...You are correct," he smiled, "as always, Sans." He looked up at the group, "I think we can manage to avoid revealing that Frisk is human, can we not?"

"I'm no babysitter so I'm all for it." Jack said with a shrug shoving his hands deep in his pockets. "But you're gonna let the little firework down here but not Alphys?" He stepped closer, staring up at Gaster with a grim tiredness, "I know you haven't really spent much time with the girl, what with the machine and all, but she's worth investing in. Listen to me," He jabbed Gaster pointedly in the chest, "she's got ideas. Good ones, interesting ones, weird ones, she's got a mind worth teaching. You hear me?"

Gaster looked down at the offending finger and carefully swept it away, "I understand, Jack. Do you think she's trustworthy?"

"I think she's worth trusting." Jack glowered.

"i think she can keep a secret, this one anyway." Sans added, "she's got a human obsession, like, you haven't seen her collection of human media, it's nuts."

"I see." Gaster smiled brightly, "We are in concurrence then, Papyrus shall be allowed down under the stipulation that he thinks Frisk is a monster and Alphys shall be informed and allowed full access to the labs."

Koshka said, "Sans could show the human around while we get to work?"

"that's cool with me." Sans said with a shrug.

"Perhaps..." Gaster turned to Frisk and asked, "Would you like to see the labs or would you prefer to rest or stay with me...?"

Frisk sighed looked from Gaster to Sans to the rest of the assistants. They gripped the bedsheets tightly in their hands. "Look around?" they said hesitantly.

Gaster smoothed his hand over their head, "If you change your mind you may return here at any time."

They nodded and slid off the bed. Sans had wandered a few steps away and they walked over to join him.

"so i'm sans." he said with an easy grin, "how old are you anyway? you seem like a kid but humans might be different than us."

"I'm eleven, I'll be twelve soon." Frisk said with the tilt of their head, "How old are you?"

"thirteen." he grinned.

"You seem short for thirteen."

His grin twitched, "you're not so impressive either."

"I've always been small for my age, I'm always in the lower percentiles of growth charts." Frisk said.

"Human's have growth charts?" Sans asked.

Frisk nodded seriously, "We tend to be fairly uniform. Monsters seem to come in a lot of different shapes and sizes," they glanced at the assistants, "but I thought since you're a skeleton and look like a human skeleton that you might follow similar growth patterns and since you're only a little taller than me that would mean you're small for your age."

Sans shook his head, "heh, pop's is gonna love you. are all humans like this?" he gestured vaguely at them.

Frisk shook their head, "My parents are scientists." their brow furrowed, "Or... they will be, I guess... I don't know when they started."

"speaking of." Sans said, "you're like, creepy calm about all of this. i mean, you came from the future and got dumped in the middle of my pop's mess and you're just-" he gestured vaguely again.

Frisk sighed and rubbed their eyes with the palms of their hands, "...it's not like I can do anything about it. As far as I can tell nobody I've met so far would have any reason to lie to me so I'm just-" they shrugged helplessly, "-here."

"yeah."

Frisk looked down at their hands, "...I kind of don't want to think about it." Their focus shifted and they narrowed their eyes at Sans feet, "You're wearing sandals. With socks."

"i'd wear slippers if I could but pops gets huffy about it." Sans grinned.

Gaster broke off his conversation with Jack to interject, "Slippers are unsafe and inappropriate for a laboratory setting," then returned to talking with the jaded assistant.

"see. huffy," Sans grinned wider. "but you know, i'd hate cause a _slip_ up."

Frisk narrowed their eyes, "Are you puny?"

"heh, me?" he shrugged, "maybe a little _humerus_."

"A little." Frisk said flatly.

"tough crowd." Sans said and turned on his heel towards the back of the room, "come on, there's something i want to check out real quick first, before the 'grand' tour."

He led Frisk out of the door they had come through and back down the hallway. In the distance Frisk could see the pried open door and beyond that the dusty, smoky darkness, illuminated occasionally by scattering sparks and flashing screens.

They walked in silence until they reached the door. Frisk hung back as Sans leaned inside and looked around. When the looked back at them his eyes were small and trembled. He let out a shaky breath and leaned against the wall.

Frisk plucked at their overalls, running their fingers over the faded denim.

"pops said you relieved the pressure on the timeline." Sans said softly.

Frisk looked up.

"are you a mage? like the humans that sealed us in?"

"A mage?" Frisk asked.

"yeah. can you use magic?"

Frisk shook their head.

Sans brow furrowed, "but you must be important. you have be a fulcrum or else it wouldn't have been enough, especially if that bone head of a father did- " He paused and looked at the smoking room and then back at Frisk. "-what i think he did... no way. he didn't-"

Sans turned on his heel and sprinted down the hallway, lights flickering on as he passed, Frisk running behind him so they wouldn't be left behind. The hallway entered a larger work room and Sans wove around a large and ominous looking machine that looked like an animal skull, it was covered in dust and half built. Frisk wrapped their arms around themselves as they passed it.

Sans heaved on a large, heavy door, as it clicked open Frisk felt a gust of cooler air. They ducked after Sans into a room filled with refrigerators. On the walls, up by the ceiling, large fans blew waves of cool air into the room. Sans pulled open the third refrigerator, scanning it quickly and then slamming the door shut again. He checked every refrigerator in the room, then returned to the third one and checked it again. Frisk was shivering from the cold but he was sweating.

Sans turned to them and hurried over, one hand outstretched, "sorry, i just gotta..."

Frisk felt a pulse echo through their entire body and their chest glowed and then a brilliant red heart emerged. Frisk gasped, they could feel the heart like an extension of themselves, a piece of everything that made them, them.

Sans eyes went wide, his pupils contracting into tiny dots.

Frisk reached out to touch the heart but with a wave of Sans hand, it sank back into their chest.

"come on! we've gotta get back, now!" Sans grabbed their outstretched hand and dragged them after himself, running back the way they had come.

.

(New chapter will still go up tomorrow, maybe Thursday.)


	6. Entry 6

(PLEASE READ! Entry 5 has been rewritten and updated on 8/30. It's a nearly TWICE as long now! If you read it before 8/30, please re-read it before continuing to avoid confusion. THANK YOU.

Also sorry this is a little late. I re-wrote everything up to here to get back in the groove. Only 5 is significantly different though, the rest is just, better, I hope.)

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Entry 6: Gaster

"Slippers are unsafe and inappropriate for a laboratory setting," Gaster said on instinct. His brain registering what he had said as an after thought. Gaster glanced at Frisk and Sans talking then turned back to Jack with a sigh, "I told him to wear shoes, close-toed shoes. He has at least three pairs of sneakers and yet he insists on testing my patience."

"Yeah?" Jack said flatly, "You want me to throw all his slippers and sandals in the Core?"

"Jack." Koshka said pointedly.

"I appriciate the thought, Jack, however he wouldn't learn anything from that."

Jack squinted in thought, "I could, drop a bowling ball on his foot?"

"...Jack..." Gob said softly.

Gaster smiled briefly, "That is what I am hoping to _avoid_ , Jack. Thank you but please stop helping."

Jack shrugged.

"First things, first," Gaster said, "I would like to go upstairs and get my son. I hope I've rested sufficiently?"

Koshka narrowed her eyes and checked her watch. "I'm off in two hours. Once I clock out, I don't care if you die. BUT until then-"

Gaster chuckled, "Ah, Koshka. Truly, I don't know what I would do without you."

"You'd have exploded a lot sooner." She muttered.

"...Koshka..." Gob said sadly.

She sighed and patted Gob on their side, "I don't mean it. The good doctor has just... tested my patience today. I'll go upstairs with Dr. Gaster and Jack. Gob Will you stay here in case the hu-" she broke off and corrected herself, "Frisk and Sans come back?"

Gob nodded slowly.

Gaster stood and headed towards the elevators, Jack and Koshka trailing in his wake.

"Dr. Gaster." Koshka said.

"Hmm?" Gaster said faintly. His even measured steps echoed down the long, twisting dark hallways. The lights pinged and crackled overhead as they turned on one after another as the group approached.

"Do you truly intend to keep a human child down here?" She asked.

Gaster nodded.

"I know you like kids but," She sighed, "surely this isn't worth the risk."

They passed through the entryway, lit dimly by the poorly stocked vending machine and headed down the narrow hallway to the elevator.

"I am fond of children. However you are neglecting a very important detail." He pressed the elevator call button and the door opened with a brisk ping.

"Which is?" Koshka pushed, stepping into the elevator and holding the door until Jack shuffled inside.

"They are _human_." Gaster said, "All research on humans was lost in the war. In the time since then we've barely scratched the surface on human souls, and have never had the opportunity to examine one alive. There is so much to learn here."

"...Perhaps," Koshka conceded.

"Human soul magic especially." Gaster went on, "If Frisk can learn to use their soul, imagine what we could learn, about soul magic, about the barrier, there are simply so many possibilities."

Jack stared blankly at the closed elevator doors.

"I attempted to bring Asgore around to this line of thinking many times. Imagine what we could have done if the fallen humans had been allowed to live-"

The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. Jack hurried out.

"-to be taught magic and worked for monsterkind, rather than such a short-sighted simplistic goal of collecting seven, like they were seashells-!"

Koshka pointedly cleared her throat and nudged Gaster with her elbow, "Dr. Gaster."

"Oh." Gaster blinked and quickly stepped off the elevator.

"I'll have a chat with Alphys about everything." Jack said, heading for the conveyer belt that wound around to the small workshop behind the upper lab.

As Jack disappeared, a young skeleton wearing shorts and a striped sweater, came out the other side, sitting on the belt, a crayon clutched in his hand as he worked on something. He glided along the conveyers until they gently pushed him off onto the smooth tiles.

Gaster smiled, "Papyrus?"

Papyrus' head shot up and he jumped to his feet, the bundle of crumpled papers and crayon in his hands. "DAD!" He ran to Gaster full tilt until, a few feet away, he stopped suddenly. He stared up at Gaster, his eyes growing huge and pooling with tears, "YOU'RE HURT?!"

"It's alright, Papyrus." Gaster said gently dropping to one knee.

Papyrus sniffled hugely and then shot into Gaster's arms.

Gaster hugged him tightly, "I am so glad to see you again."

Papyrus wiggled away and looked up at Gaster his brow furrowed, he reached up, his little fingers probing the nearest crack on Gaster's face.

Gaster winced but kept still.

"I DON'T WANT YOU TO BE HURT!" Papyrus said, pulling his hands back and clinging to the front Gaster's long jacket.

"There was a small accident at the lab but I'm fine. I just look a little different." He squeezed Papyrus' arms and slid down until he could extract some of the badly mashed papers, "What's this?"

Papyrus wiped his eyes, "MAZES! ALPHYS BROUGHT ME A WHOLE BUNCH! SHE SAYS IT MAKES HER ANXIOUS WHEN I RUN AROUND!"

"Did you thank her?" Gaster said.

Papyrus nodded vigorously, "I HUGGED HER TOO AND THAT MADE HER REALLY SWEATY!"

Gaster sighed, "What did I say about respecting personal space?"

"SORRY, I FORGOT. I'LL TRY BETTER NEXT TIME!" He pulled the papers from Gaster hands and hurriedly smoothed them.

"Please do, Papyrus. Not everyone likes to be touched and you need to ask before hugging."

"OK!" Papyrus said, "DAD LOOK! I FINISHED THIS ONE AND-" he shuffled through the papers, "-THIS ONE!" He jabbed at the second piece of paper with his crayon, "THIS ONE TRIED TO TRICK ME BUT I'M TOO SMART!"

"You are the picture of perseverance. Nothing can withstand you once you just put your mind to it." Gaster praised.

Papyrus beamed, "NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

"Now, would you like to come down to the lower labs or stay up here for two more hours until I am done with work?"

"COME WITH YOU! COME WITH YOU!" Papyrus bounced.

"Do you need to bring anything with you?" Gaster asked.

Papyrus went still for a second then ran back to the back room, reemerging on the other side moments later with his backpack already pulled over his shoulders and ran back to Gaster.

"Come along then, my little bundle of bones." Gaster said, picking Papyrus up as he stood and rejoining Koshka in the elevator.

Koshka was smiling faintly as they stepped inside and the doors slid shut.

"HELLO KOSHA!" Papyrus said excitedly, "GUESS WHAT?!"

"What is it, Papyrus?" She asked.

Papyrus grinned, "SOMEDAY I'M GONNA BE THIIIIISSS TALL!" He held up his hand as high as it would go.

Gaster chuckled, "Are you sure you won't be this tall?" lifted Papyrus up so his head nearly brushed the ceiling.

"NYEHEHEHEH! DOWN, DOWN!"

Gaster lowered Papyrus and wrapped his arms around him, "Not that tall then?"

Papyrus said, "THAT'S TOO TALL! I WANNA BE JUST AS TALL AS YOU DAD!"

"I see." Gaster smiled, "Well it's certainly a possibility."

Koshka said, "Make sure you drink lots of milk then, so you can grow up big and tall."

"I ALWAYS DRINK ALL MY MILK!" Papyrus said proudly.

The elevator slowed and the doors slid open with a ping. The three of them walked down the hallway. As they reached the entry way, a pair of running footsteps and then a running Sans and Frisk met up with them.

Sans was pale and sweating, and looked angry. Frisk hung back looking anxious.

"Sans?" Gaster said.

"SANS!" Papyrus waved his mazes.

"it's all gone." Sans panted, "koshka, the d.t., the determination, it's all gone."

"What?!" Koshka spun towards Gaster, her back going ramrod stiff, "All of the-"

"there was no sign of it in the room, in the explosion." Sans pressed his hand to the sides of his head, "fuck-!"

"Sans!" Gaster scolded, pressing a hand over the side of Papyrus' head.

"molecular destabilization!" Sans shouted, starting to frantically pace back and forth, "you've got to be kidding me! did you think no one would notice? that no one would figure it out-?!"

"Sans." Gaster said patiently, "I suspected. Regardless of the truth-"

"should we just make you a file now?!" Sans interrupted, "d.t. patient fourteen? we can be a pair, me the first, you the last."

"Sans." Gaster said calmly.

He threw up his arms, "what were you thinking, pops?!"

"Sans."

"that much determination, it could- it could- fuc-"

"Sans!" Gaster said raising his voice.

Sans stopped pacing, he was shaking.

"You're scaring your brother." Gaster said softly, hugging the young skeleton gently and smoothing his hand over the top of his skull.

Papyrus' eyes were wide and swimming with tears as he glanced from Sans to Gaster.

"Sans." Gaster said in a smooth, gentle voice, "Nothing can be done."

Sans expression looked haunted.

"Determination cannot be extracted once it has fused with a monsters body."

The room fell into a sucking silence. Sans stared at the floor, eyes black. Koshka squeezed her hands together.

"SANS?" Papyrus said anxiously, his voice trembling, "WHY ARE YOU MAD? SANS?" He wiggled to be put down. Gaster sat him on his feet and Papyrus hurried to Sans, grabbing his sleeve and tugged on it, "PLEASE DON'T BE MAD! DAD'S HURT. HE SAID IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

Sans blinked, squeezed his eyes shut and leaned down, hugging his little brother tightly. "...sorry, bro."

"I think you could use more rest, Dr. Gaster." Koshka said, shaking her head, "I need to test your D.T. levels immediately." She took his arm and pulled him after her, back to the lounge, muttering to herself as she went, "Hopefully, the exposure was minimal. How did you even use all of the D.T.?" She glanced back at him continuing to rant under her breath, "The next level of tests with the machine didn't call for nearly that amount. There were already pronounced signs of destabilization at the original stopping point yet you-" She shook her head again and dropped his arm when they reached the bed he had been sitting on before. Gob was still patiently waiting right where they had left them.

"...the doctor..." Gob said faintly, "...used progressively more D.T... the final test... overwhelmed the machine... too much power..."

"It was in the data?" Koshka said, "Why didn't you tell us earlier, Gob?"

Gob's head drooped sadly, "...sorry...was still processing..."

Koshka squeezed between her eyes and sighed, "Sorry, Gob, I know, I know. I'm just going to- we have to test his levels..." She turned on her heel and hurried to lab off the side of the lounge.

Gaster slowly sat on the edge of the bed.

Sans shuffled up looking drained, Papyrus holding tightly onto his hand.

"why'd you lie, pops?" Sans asked quietly.

Gaster laced his fingers together in his lap, "I was afraid something like this would happen. I simply wished to wait until everyone was calmer and in a better state of mind."

"but what if-?"

Papyrus let go of Sans and ran over to Gaster, tugging on his sleeve, "ARE YOU OK, DAD?" He asked anxiously.

Gaster smiled and nodded, "I appear to be fine, Papyrus. I think I should most likely continue to be so, at least for a while."

"DAD?" Papyrus' brow crumpled in confusion.

Gaster patted his head, "I am ok, Papyrus."

Sans sighed and sat on the bed next to his father, rubbing his eyes sockets tiredly, "you're gonna be the death of me pop."

"As my assistants so like to remind me: not if I am the death of myself first."

"heh." Sans chuckled without much enthusiasm.

Papyrus clambered onto the bed and crawled behind them.

Gaster glanced over at Sans with a smile, "I am certainly lucky to have such a wonderful son."

"flattery will get you nowhere."

"WHAT ABOUT ME!?" Papyrus asked, draping his arms over Gaster's shoulders and leaning across his back.

Gaster chuckled, "Two wonderful sons."

"get off pops, y'little spider," Sans hooked his arm around Papyrus' back and pulled him onto the bed with a squeal of laughter. Then laid back to pin his little brother down despite his squirming and protests.

"I _had_ estimated I would have at least an hour before the missing materials were discovered." Gaster said, "How did you figure it out so quickly?"

Sans sat up, "you said frisk kept the timeline from fracturing. in order for them to have that much power, to be able to balance the forces you would have been using stupid amounts of determination." He looked around until he spotted Frisk standing a few feet away watching them with a melancholic expression. Sans glanced back at Papyrus, "hey, pap, bet you can't run to elevator and back in less than a minute."

"CAN TOO!" Papyrus declared.

Sans held up his wrist watch dramatically and tapped the face, "and- go!"

Papyrus took off at full speed.

Sans watched until he was out of the room.

"i wanna show him your soul." Sans said, gesturing for Frisk to come close.

Frisk's brow twitched but they stepped over. Sans held out his hand and the brilliant red soul emerged, filling the room with red light.

Gaster's eyes widened. He didn't even notice the bolt of pain that ran through his cracks, "...A soul driven... by Determination..."

.

(Next Update: Wednesday, 9/7/16.

Can I just say how much I love writing lil Papyrus? He's just so much fun.)


	7. Entry 7

(Notes: In general, I'm sticking to the map of the true lab from the game as much as possible to help with visualizing what's going on. Some things are different, like the room Gaster blew up, is the room with the wall of fans in the game. Any rooms I add, like the server room, will be located where an entry number screen is in the true lab.

Thank you and enjoy your weekly dose of lil'Papyrus.)

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Entry 7: Frisk

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Sans flicked his hand and the red heart disappeared back inside of Frisk. They stared down where it had been. Gaster had called it their soul and that their soul was driven by determination which was important and possibly dangerous but maybe not to them or to humans or it was only dangerous outside their soul. It was bad that Gaster was exposed to some, Koshka and Sans had been really upset by that. Gaster hadn't seemed phased but Frisk was starting to think that was just him.

"...Determination..." Gaster's expression was distant, staring at a random spot on the floor as he traced one of the circles in his palms.

Gob said something faintly and returned back to the back hallway. They seemed worried but they always seemed kind of worried or sad.

Frisk took a few steps back and sat down on the bed across from Sans who had laid back down on the bed and appeared to be sleeping. When Papyrus ran up though, Sans raised his arm and opened one eye to peer at his watch face. "fifty one seconds, bro."

"TOLD YOU!" Papyrus said with a beaming smile.

Gaster's head came up and he smiled, "Papyrus. I would like you to meet someone." He gestured to Frisk, "This is Frisk, they will be staying at the lab."

Papyrus' head jerked toward them for the first time and his upbeat and hyper personality instantly disappeared, almost turning inward, as he edged more behind the bed.

"Frisk will be..." Gaster thought for a second, "our new helper." He paused, looking confused at the sudden silence, and twisted on the bed to look back, "Papyrus? You're being very quiet. Say hello."

"HI." Papyrus said flatly looking down at the rumpled bed sheets and edging over further so Gaster blocked their line of sight.

"Hello." Frisk said politely. They looked at Gaster questioningly, "It's nice to meet you?"

"This isn't like you, Papyrus." Gaster said a tinge of worry in his voice.

Sans sighed, "about that. papyrus hasn't-"

"NO!" Papyrus cut him off, "YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T SANS! YOU PROMISED!"

"i promised last month." Sans tilted his head back to get a better look at his little brother, "you said you'd take care of it but the teach talked with me again today."

"YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T!" Papyrus lower jaw trembled on the edge of tears.

Gaster asked in concern, "What is this about, Sans?"

Sans looked back over at Gaster, "pap hasn't made any friends at school."

"SANS!" Papyrus sniffled.

Gaster's brow furrowed, "He just started a month ago, perhaps-"

"he started school three months ago, pops." Sans corrected, "and this isn't just he talks to some kids at school but they're not besties yet, none of the kids talk to him _at all_. his teacher's worried, i am too."

"Papyrus?" Gaster asked.

Papyrus clenched his jaw, "IT'S FINE! NOTHING'S WRONG!"

"Papyrus." Gaster paused in thought, his thumb tracing the edge of his palm cut out subconsciously, "...If you are content to not have friends then that is fine. However, if you wish to have friends and are unhappy then I am worried. I want you to be happy."

Papyrus' eyes pooled with tears and he began to cry even as he was trying his best not to.

"Papyrus..." Gaster held his arms open and Papyrus scrambled onto the bed and buried himself into the shoulder of Gaster's black coat.

Gaster patted his back soothingly, saying nothing until the tears began to ebb. "Tell me." he said softly.

Papyrus voice was muffled by the fabric and tears but loud enough to be understood. He said in one long, soggy rush, "THEY SAY I'M TOO LOUD AND I BREAK THINGS AND WHEN I TRY TO PLAY WITH THEM THEY ALWAYS SAY I'M DOING EVERYTHING WRONG BUT I'M DOING IT JUST LIKE THEY DO AND THEN WHEN I T-TRY TO DO IT BETTER THEY LAUGH AT M-ME!"

"I see." Gaster said softly.

"AND I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW BECAUSE YOU'RE ALWAYS TELLING ME TO BE CAREFUL WHEN I RUN AND NOT TOUCH PEOPLE WITHOUT ASKING A-AND AND-" He hiccuped into a sob.

"So," Gaster said flatly, "the children in your class are inadequate then."

Papyrus looked up, "DAD?"

He patted Papyrus' head, "I tell you to take care when running around and to ask people before touching them so you do not hurt or upset someone. If you are not hurting people, if you are simply being yourself, and they are being cruel; the fault lies with them, not you. Do you understand?"

Papyrus sniffled, his eyes widening.

"You are not to blame for being yourself." Gaster asked again, "Do you understand?"

Papyrus wiped his eyes and nodded.

"Good." Gaster sighed and rubbed Papyrus' back, "I'll talk to the school about moving you to a different class."

Papyrus' eyes widened and he gripped Gaster's coat.

"Or perhaps you would prefer not to go to school? I could hire a tutor."

He frantically shook his head.

"A different class then?" Gaster said.

Papyrus looked down so his forehead brushed Gaster's chest and said, uncharacteristically quiet for him, "...SCARY..."

"There's nothing my little bundle of bones can't manage if he puts his mind to it. But in the end it's up to you."

"OK," Papyrus said, glancing up, "...I'LL TRY. I'LL BE BRAVE."

"Wonderful."

"...THANKS, DAD." Papyrus mumbled

Gaster hugged him, then hugged him tighter until he began to giggle and squirm.

"DAAAAD!" Papyrus protested, breaking into breathless giggles, "NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Papyrus finally managed to wiggle free and bounced down from the bed, running around the bed Frisk was sitting on and ducking behind it so just his eyes and the top of his head was visible.

Gaster peered down at his empty arms, "My goodness. Now who will I hug?" He turned to Sans.

"whoop," Sans sat up abruptly, half standing, half rolling off the end of the bed and stumbling out of reach.

Gaster sighed dramatically, "You're no fun, Sans."

Sans grinned and shrugged, "come on, pops, i'm too old for that sort of thing."

"Hardly." Gaster frowned.

A little shyly Frisk raised their hand, "...I'm not too old..."

Gaster smiled gently and opened his arms.

Frisk stood and shuffled closer, holding their breath as his arms encircled them. Gaster squeezed them, tight and firm and for just a second they closed their eyes and leaned in. Then his hands were on their shoulders and he was smiling down at them.

"DAAAD!" Papyrus pouted, his chin on the edge of the bed.

Gaster smiled and shook his finger, "Now, Papyrus, if you wanted a hug, you only had to-"

"Dr. Gaster." Koshka interrupted, pushing a medical cart ahead of herself.

Frisk stared at the cart, recognizing some of the things on it, test tubes, pipets, cotton swabs and other things they didn't recognize, something that looked like a dentist drill, something like pliers with a gauge on the side and a strange plastic gun with a small circle of metal like a hole punch where a needle might normally go.

Gaster sighed and patted Frisk's shoulder, "Perhaps now would be a good time for you to tour the lab." He said to Sans, "Take Papyrus with you. Try to be more through this time."

Sans glanced from Koshka to Gaster and shrugged, "come on, lil' bro." He rounded the bed, looping his arm over Papyrus' shoulder and pulling him along with him, "let's show the new kid around."

Frisk followed at their heel as they went back to the back hallway they had gone down first, before all the stuff with determination had happened.

As they stepped into the hallway Papyrus looked down one way, then the other and took off down the hallway and, before long, ran back at full speed, zipping between the two of them with an ecstatic 'NYEH HEH HEH!' The lights pinging on as he passed, lighting up the whole hallway.

Frisk studied the narrow hallway, with dark green tiles on the floor and pale grey walls.

Sans grinned, watching his brother as in the distance the little skeleton began his return, arms outstretched so he could touch one wall, then weave over to touch the other, ricocheting towards them like and errant ping pong ball.

"A tour?" Frisk prompted.

"right." Sans turned to them and pointed down the hall to the room they had first come through, the room Gaster had exploded, "that was the main testing room. it had all our equipment and computers in it." He sighed, "had."

"What was the machine?" Frisk asked, " and why was Mr. Gaster using determination in it? ...What is determination?"

Sans ignored all but the last question, "determination is this stuff in human's-"

"Just humans?" Frisk asked.

"monster have a bit too, but ours probably measures out to the amount you could put on the point of a pin-"

"How much does a human have?"

Sans grinned and gave them a look, "you've never heard of this stuff before?"

"No. Never." Frisk pushed, "How much determination does as human have?"

"dunno." Sans shrugged, "it's like it says on the tin, determination is like a will to live or strive, and humans all have different levels. if you'd asked me or pops yesterday we'dve told you a human can't be driven by determination."

"But I am?"

"looks that way." Sans said.

Frisk frowned, stepping back slightly so Papyrus could bounce past them.

"that's pop's office." Sans pointed.

Frisk followed his finger. Just outside the break room door, slightly to the left was a door with a plaque beside it that read Wing DingAster, missing the space between the two names and below, in smaller print it said Royal Scientist. Below those two lines, where Frisk would expect to see brail bumps there were two small lines written in what looked like the wing dings font, all strange, small symbols that they couldn't make out at all.

Sans started walking down the hallway and Frisk trailed after him.

"server room." Sans pointed as they passed another door.

The door was open a crack and Frisk peered inside as they passed, spotting Gob, surrounded by walls of mismatched towers looking almost meditative.

"shower." Sans gestured as they passed a third door. The hallway opened up into the room with the large metal skull. "you saw the cooler." He pointed to the heavy freezer door across from them.

"What's this?" Frisk pointed to the skull.

Sans shoved his hands in the pockets of his lab coat, "er... just an old piece of junk."

Frisk narrowed their eyes, "What _was_ it then?"

"sorry," Sans shrugged helplessly, "i dunno how much pops wants to tell you. you'll have to ask him." he walked to a small room, in the corner beside the skull, "this is the media room. it's kinda like a library of all the labs reference books and videos."

Frisk glanced inside. There were two mismatched bookshelves against the walls, filled with a mishmash of poorly organized books, files and videos. An old tv set was in the middle of the bookshelves.

When they turned around, Papyrus had climbed halfway up the strange metal skull.

"pops told you not to climb on that." Sans chided with a grin, "come on, get down."

Papyrus carefully stood up, sticking his arms out for balance, and shouted down, "CATCH ME!"

"bro." Sans sighed.

"CATCH ME, CATCH ME, CATCH ME!" Papyrus insisted.

"fine. come on then."

Papyrus whole face lit up and he leapt off the skull as high and as far as he could, and nowhere near where Sans was standing. Frisk breath froze in their chest. They stepped forward, arms lifting, then stopped.

Papyrus was wreathed in a blue aura and hung suspended in the air giggling and wriggling and _not_ falling. Frisk looked over to Sans, his hand was raised, with the same blue aura around it. He had one eye closed and the other was fixed on his brother in intense concentration, a blue ring like an iris of light surrounded his pupil. Sans lowered his hand and Papyrus was lowered to the ground, the blue disappearing like a popped soap bubble a foot above the ground.

Papyrus easily landed on his feet and bounced on his toes, "NYEH HEH HEH! AGAIN! AGAIN!"

"nope," Sans said.

"AWWW COME ON!"

Sans shook his head.

"PLEASE!" Papyrus pleaded, doing his best to look like a puppy-dog skeleton.

Sans leaned down so he was eye level with his brother and slowly narrowed his eyes, "no." he said flatly.

"YOU SUCK!" Papyrus puffed and huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and stomping back out into the hallway.

"so that's it for this area," Sans turned to them, "next'd be- hey, you ok?"

Frisk grabbed the front of their overalls anxiously, pressing their arms tight to their body, "...What ...was that?" they asked hoarsely.

Sans glanced around confused, then his eyes widened, "oh man, was that the first time you've seen magic? guess i should've warned you."

"So when you asked if I was a mage you meant it?" Frisk asked.

"what else would i mean?" Sans asked, raising his brow.

"And that was magic?" Frisk said in disbelief, "Like real magic?"

"yeah, sure, is there any other kind?"

"An illusion or a party trick or a glow stick-"

"a glow stick?"

"I didn't think it was really real." They said quietly.

Sans chuckled, "it's a good thing you didn't end up in a battle first thing or you'd have had to learn the hard way."

.

(Firelight, my other story, also updated today! You should totes go check it out :)

Next Update: Wednesday, 9/14/16.

Gaster not being erased, is already changing things. Little, important, things. Who knows how far the ripples will go.)


	8. Entry 8

(Notes: I just want to say thank you to everyone that comments, reviews or leaves a kind word. Especially those that do so every chapter, they keep me going and I really, really appriciate it. Thank you so much.)

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Entry 8: Gaster

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Koshka grabbed a density caliper and grabbed Gaster's arm, pushing the fabric of his sleeve back. She hesitated, grimacing.

Gaster looked from his smooth white wrist up to his most trusted assistant, "Surely you're not squeamish? It hardly looks grotesque."

Koshka braced his arm and jabbed it with cold metal tool with far more force than was necessary.

He winced, "Really Koshka."

She frowned as she read the little dial, narrowed her eyes and tested him again, with slightly less force, and read the dial. "You're density is significantly lower than bone now," she sighed.

Gaster laced his fingers together as she let go of his arm. "On the bright side, the drill will won't be necessary," he said with a note of cheerfulness.

Koshka laid her ears back, "I really wish you would take things more seriously, Dr. Gaster."

"I take them as seriously as they need to be taken."

She picked up the antiseptic numbing solution and he lifted his arm again so she could wipe a patch above his wrist. It tingled as air passed over it and slowly began to lose feeling.

"What I have always wondered, Koshka, is why you insist on being so negative?" Gaster asked pleasantly.

She pulled on a pair of medical gloves with a serious and contemplative look, "I've worked for you too long, I suppose."

Gaster let out a little short bark of a laugh.

Koshka shook her head and picked up the sample gun and a sample tube, clicking it into place on the back of the plastic and metal contraption that looked like the unfortunate offspring of a hole punch and a water pistol.

She flicked the surface of his arm sharply, "Numb?"

He nodded, bracing his upraised arm with his other hand, "Proceed."

She pressed the nozzle to his arm, there was the hiss of magic as she pulled down on the trigger and a loud and mechanical click. Gaster winced as the device excised a circle of his matter the size of a pencil eraser and thickness of a coin. For a moment the little white of circle of matter retained its shape inside the sample tube and then began to slowly crumble into fine particles; wisps of blue and purple magic curled up, giving the like glass vial a faint purplish hue.

Koshka carefully removed the sample and shook it so the fine dust swirled around the bottom. She sat it on the tray and tossed him a tube of healing salve, "At least we didn't have to use the drill."

Gaster smiled, "Exactly." He squeezed a dollop of the clear gel onto his finger and gently worked it into the stinging, shallow divot on his arm.

"I'll start the analysis on this right away." The trolley rattled faintly as she grasped its sides. "If you feel any sudden changes-"

"Koshka." Gaster interrupted.

She dropped a hand from the trolley and half turned back towards him, "Yes, Dr. Gaster?"

"Koshka. Frisk's soul is red. The child has a soul driven by Determination." He said with a touch of awe, "By all our previous estimates it should be impossible but I have seen it with my own eyes. And their soul balanced the pull of the Determination used in the machine." He squeezed his arm, "All this time we have been testing with what we thought was a significant amount of Determination, extracted from multiple souls and yet that child carries just as much if not more in their chest."

The cart rattled and Koshka snatched her hand away from it and clutched it to her chest.

Gaster continued, "All this time we thought we were exploring an ocean of possibility but it has turned out to be a puddle and the true ocean is unfathomably wide." He looked up, "I am both excited and terrified."

"I'm mostly terrified." Koshka said her voice shaking, " With that much determination they could-" she swallowed hard and asked instead, "Are all humans so powerful?"

Gaster shook his head, "The other souls indicate that they are not. You've studied them yourself, Koshka. The simple fact is that Frisk is something special. They kept the timeline from shattering. It's highly likely that they would have changed the world from their original point in time."

"Wait." Koshka said, "You don't think, those readings we got from the machine, that you said represented a massive splitting of the timeline in the future, timelines starting, stopping, ending-"

"Quite possibly," Gaster agreed. "However, are they the first point of divergence or the second, or could they be both? If Frisk exists, other significant amounts of Determination must also be present in the world. And, of course, they are here now and that changes _everything_. The future we glimpsed may no longer be a possibility because of what happened here today."

Koshka said faintly, "For good or ill?"

"That is what we shall have to discover."

She slowly gripped the side of the cart again, "Do you intend to study them?"

Gaster let out a breath, "I have to admit I would very much like to but that is up to Frisk and not even a question right now. First, they must settle in here as best they can. We must build a relationship of trust and mutual understanding."

Koshka nodded, "Good. I'd take them away if you tried anything."

Gaster raised his brows slightly, immediately regretting it as pain shot through the cracks, "I thought you said I could not just adopt them."

"You're not the only one who likes kids," She said with a sigh, "That doesn't make it any less of a stupid idea. We're basically committing treason."

"Not basically." Gaster said, "It _is_ treason because of Asgore's fool of a proclamation."

She grabbed the cart and pushed it back to the laboratory adjoining the break room, "I should start analyzing the sample..."

Gaster stood up in one smooth motion, "I'll come with you-"

"You should rest!" Koshka snapped.

"There are stools in your lab are there not?" Gaster said calmly.

Koshka gave him a look, "So you can prattle on in my ear when I'm trying to work?"

"Prattle?" Gaster pressed as hand to his chest, offended at the notion, "I do not prattle."

She pushed the cart into the lab with a muttered, "Yes, there are stools in the lab."

Gaster followed behind her into the long room. On one side of the room was a counter covered with various lab equipment. On the other side, materials, chemicals and other assorted tools were stored in tall cabinets with mirror-like glass doors.

Koshka slid the cart up to a tall stool and sat down, snatching up the sample. She grabbed a syringe, filling it with a clear solution, then injected it into the sample bottle through the rubber membrane lid. She shook it absently then slotted the sample into a mixing machine, flipping the lid closed and turning it on, the machine shuddering to life and making a soft buzzing whirring noise as it shook the little bottle to combine his dust and magic with the neutral solution.

Gaster spotted a stool tucked under the counter and pulled it out. A movement caught his eye and he turned towards it, spotting his reflection in the cabinet. He stared at the new strange new visage and reached up, tracing the cracks running through his face. "I suppose," He said softly, mostly to himself, "I truly resemble the name now. Ghastly indeed."

"What were you trying to do with the time machine?" Koshka asked.

Gaster turned to her, reclaiming the stool and sitting on it so his back pressed against the thin counter edge.

Koshka was watching the machine, eyes trained on the blinking red light, "What did you hope to achieve by pushing past the limits we had deemed safe?" Her voice sounded calm and detached even as her brow furrowed.

"I was trying to push it forward." Gaster said, lacing his fingers together, "I thought perhaps with enough Determination I could force the machine travel into the future."

Koshka rested her elbows on the counter and her forehead on her hands, "All our tests, _All_ our tests indicate that D.T., that the time machine, would only ever be able to go _back_ in time."

"I thought perhaps-"

She groaned and shook her head, grinding her palms into her eye sockets, "You _THOUGHT_?! I highly doubt that doctor. I really do! We tried so many times and all that happened was-" her voice shook," -was those awful cracks full of darkness and cold and a silence so deep-" she shuddered, and her voice dropped to a whisper, "we almost lost everything..."

"Yes." Gaster said simply, not knowing what else to say.

She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself, "We had all agreed that we should move forward with tests to try and go back in time and find a way to break the barrier back before it was made-"

"It wouldn't have worked." Gaster said flatly.

Her head shot up and glared at him, "We could have stopped the barrier from ever being constructed!"

He sighed, "Koshka. If we stopped the barriers creation it would not have helped _us_ in any way. It would have created a new timeline where the barrier never was, but it would not be our timeline. If our barrier was never put in place then we would have no reason to be here, now. We would have no reason to make a machine and go back in time and break the barrier. To think we could break the barrier in the past and have it benefit our timeline is a paradox, an impossibility."

She slapped the counter with her hand, "Then we could have gone back and learned how it was made and taken it apart here, in our time!"

"It was made by humans, with human soul power, and a human would be required to dismantle it. At the time I pushed the machine, I never expected that would ever be a possibility." He tightened his fingers together, squeezing and feeling the strange lack of joints that used to be and instead an unfamiliar smoothness. "If we could have gone into the future, to learn how the barrier was taken down then, to use their methods or even borrow the method, that would have freed us here and now. That would have given my children and yours a future under a blue sky."

The machine stopped, beeped three times and the light changed from red to green. Koshka opened the little machine, pulled out the tube and shook the grey fluid, peering at it closely to make sure all the magic and dust had been dissolved into the solution. She spun on her stool to another machine, sliding the sample into the analysis machine and closing the door, the machine hummed to life and a small light blinked. Koshka turned to her computer.

"We might still be able to." Koshka said softly, her mouse clicking rapidly, the light on the machine stopped blinking and changed to a steady yellow, the machine whirred to life.

Gaster nodded, "There are still many possibilities, many options. There is no need to lose hope." He turned on his chair as footsteps approached and saw first Sans and then Frisk.

Sans waved, "hey, pops-"

"Mr. Gaster?" Frisk edged past Sans, bumping his shoulder, their eyes were shining with excitement and their messy hair was even more wild.

"Hm?" He managed before they-

"What's magic? How does it work? How come monsters can use it and humans can't?" Frisk said all in a rush, hands clutched tightly up by their chest as they bounced excitedly on their toes, "What's a soul? Are human and monsters souls different? What's determination? What's it do? What's that weird skull machine before the cold room? And-" They took a sudden deep breath, face flushed from not breathing, "And- um... I had more, I'll remember in a minute."

Gaster chuckled with pure delight, "Wonderful. Simply wonderful." He stood up and headed for the lounge, "I shall tell you all about it."

"No demonstrations." Koshka said, "No magic at all, Dr. Gaster, and make sure you're not straining yourself in any way."

Gaster paused with a sigh, "Really, Koshka?"

"Really, Doctor." Koshka said sternly, "Twenty four hours is the standard observation period. Until tomorrow I want you to take it easy, no magic, nothing strenuous. Tomorrow we can begin testing and see what you can handle and then we'll go from there."

"Very well." He conceded, "I have no doubt you know best." He said, putting a hand on Frisk and Sans shoulder's steering them into the lounge towards one of the large round tables surrounded by chairs.

" _Sans_." Koshka called after them in a very meaningful tone.

"i'll keep an eye on him." Sans called back with a grin.

Gaster gently resisted the urge to sigh again and pulled out two chairs at the table and sat down. Frisk quickly climbed into the chair, sitting on the very edge already leaning forward, bouncing and fidgeting with curiosity. Sans grabbed the chair behind Frisk, flipping it around and sitting in it backwards, propping his elbows on the back of the chair and his head on his elbows.

Gaster resisted the urge to chastise him. He had heard teenagers were difficult for the sake of being difficult. Sans, naturally, had years of practice.

"Where is Papyrus?" He asked.

Sans pointed to the beds. Gaster spotted Papyrus, his collection of crumpled mazes was spread out across one of the bedspreads while he worked on another with a crayon, his face set in intense concentration.

Magic, Gaster thought, as he looked back at his avid little pupil. He organized his thoughts and tried to pick out the best place to start, "Unlike humans and other mammals that are biologically based and made of cells and dna, Monsters are made of magic and a bit of matter."

"A bit?" Frisk asked.

He nodded, "It varies from Monster to Monster. Some, like ghosts, have no matter at all, they are beings of pure magic. Others, like-" He smiled, "-skeleton monsters have a great deal of matter."

"So the more dense a monster is, the more matter it has?" Frisk said.

"Yes." Gaster smiled, a little thrill going up his back. This child was very bright, "A monster's magic is produced by their soul. A monster will die when their soul is no longer able to produce enough magic to sustain their body."

Frisk said, "Just like a human dies when their body can't repair itself right anymore." The brow furrowed as they carefully said, "Cellular degradation."

Gaster nodded, "Monsters tend to live longer than humans. Some may live for hundreds of years. Boss monsters, like our king and queen will live forever until they produce offspring and then they begin to age as their child draws their life force from their soul. Other monsters have lifespans similar to humans or shorter ones. Spiders tend to only live a year or two, at most. Moldsmals only live seven to ten years."

"Moldsmals?"

"they look like jello." Sans said, "they are not jello."

"Oh." Frisk conceded, still confused.

"Sans. I'd like to show Frisk your soul." Gaster said.

Sans shrugged and sat up, flicking his wrist in front of his chest. An upside down, white heart emerged; brilliantly bright for its small size. "ta-dah." He said flatly and then vanished it back into his chest with another quick twitch.

Gaster felt a little tug of sadness that Sans had to feel so vulnerable. Gaster took a deep breath and continued, "Humans may have shorter lifespans but their souls are far stronger."

"Determination?" Frisk asked.

"Somewhat." Gaster smiled, "Monster's souls are driven by love and kindness but especially hope. Hope is essential towards a monsters production of magic, without enough hope a monster will fall down and die.

"For humans, Determination seems to be most important factor but human souls are filled with varying quantities of Bravery, Justice, Integrity, Kindness, Perseverance, Patience and Determination." He laced his fingers together on the table, "Well, those are the soul components we are aware of at this time. A human's driving force, whichever element they have the most of, determines the color of their soul and it's potential strength."

"Sans asked me if I was a mage." Frisk said, "Can humans do magic?"

Gaster made a curious noise in the back of his throat, "There is no magic on the surface in your time?"

Frisk shook their head.

"I see." Gaster squeezed his hands together.

"this backs up your theory, huh?" Sans said, slumped over the back of the chair.

"Yes. Don't slump, Sans, you'll get scoliosis"

Sans grinned and leaned over further.

Gaster said, "I hope your enjoyment of vexing me now is worth your future back pain."

"it'll be fine." Sans said, "you worry to much, pops."

"I worry the perfect amount." Gaster said, "you are far too careless."

"says you." Sans chuckled.

Gaster slowly closed his eyes in exasperation, "Then I should be a good example of what not to do."

"Mr. Gaster?" Frisk prompted softly.

He opened his eyes, "Right. When I was younger, I interviewed all the oldest monsters, about human soul magic and magic as they knew it back on the surface. From that, I learned that when humans and monsters still had good relations, humans would send children with strong souls to live with monsters. If after a year, they showed promise, the human child would be taught how to use their soul's power by monster teachers in the community.

"I theorized that exposure to magic is what awakened their soul magic. Without monsters and without magic, I believe humans cannot awaken their soul's full potential."

Frisk slowly sank back into their chair, looking shocked and a little upset. Their brow furrowed as their eyes flickered back and forth in thought.

"Did I say something to upset you?" Gaster said, reaching out a hand to squeeze their shoulder.

Frisk blinked and shook their head briefly. "No. It's ok," they said, pushing a smile on their face. "Do you think I might be able to do magic?"

Gaster hesitated, not wanted to upset them further but uncertain what it was he said to them that upset them in the first place, "...Because of the barrier, the density of magic in the air is ten times greater in the Underground than you would ever have been exposed to in a monster community aboveground. If you have potential for soul magic it will make itself apparent fairly quickly."

"Oh." Frisk looked down at their chest, pressing both hands over their soul as a tight strange smile spread over their face.

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(Next Update: Next Thursday, 9/22/16)


	9. Entry 9 & 10

(I wanna thank everyone that left a lovely message last week. I'm sorry I'm rubbish at getting back to them. I hope you like the new chapter. :)

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Entry 9: Frisk

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"Now, it is my turn to ask some questions." Gaster said.

Frisk nodded, their eagerness draining out of them like a pulled a plug in the bath.

"I would like to get a better idea of your level of intelligence. How is schooling currently done on the surface?"

Frisk took a deep breath, toying with the clasp on their overalls, "Kids start school around five or six and go until they're seventeen or eighteen, every year is a different grade. That's the school you _have_ to do. You can do more school though, preschool before or college after. You do college for degrees and you need degrees to get fancy jobs.

Gaster asked, "Are the grades fixed or can an intelligent child move ahead?"

"Move ahead or be held back if they're having trouble." Frisk said with a faint shrug.

Gaster nodded to himself, "I see. What grade of schooling were you in then, Frisk?"

Frisk hesitated. They studied Gaster's face and deciding to trust him, a little. They said, "I didn't go to school."

"No?" Gaster asked his head tilting slightly.

"Nuhuh." Frisk said, "I had a tutor. Jamie three days and Robin the other three. eight o'clock to noon. I still had to do government tests so I know where I rank. Um..." They clipped and unclipped their overalls with a faint click "...I read at a college level, and some of my science is college level, biology, chemistry, anatomy, only intro stuff though...High school level math and physics, I wanna be better at physics, History-," They shrugged, "-history's easy to cram and fake being smarter than you are... don't care about english, don't remember." They sighed and said reluctantly, "My writing is exactly average for an eleven year old kid." They frowned at Gaster fiercely, "It's the worst and I hate it and I can't get any better, I have all these thoughts and ideas and when I try to write them down they come out wrong. It makes me feel stupid. I'm not stupid." Frisk felt their face flush hot from their pounding heart and clutched their hands tight, "...I'm not stupid."

"You certainly are not." Gaster said softly, his eyes shining with interest.

Frisk studied that expression trying to tell for sure if it was kind or simply placating.

"The academic world tends to judge your intelligence on your ability to write papers and I can understand what it is like to struggle with it." Gaster glanced across the table, spotting a coffee stained pad of paper and a pencil in the center, he pulled it to him and began to write in quick tight little movements. After a few moments he pushed the pad over to Frisk for them to see. Instead of letters there were symbols, just like they remembered seeing under Gaster's name plate.

"Wing dings?"

He nodded, "I'm afraid so. I am a font skeleton, it is a specific skeleton morphology, and as is the custom of font skeletons, I was named after the font I was born with, speaking and writing."

"So Sans and Papyrus aren't just-" they stopped themselves just before they said, 'funny names.'

"Sans and Papyrus were lucky, they were born with fonts that do not significantly hinder them in any way. I had to learn how to understand and speak in a way other monsters do. It is not native to me and one of the greatest struggles for me even now."

He pulled back the pad of paper and wrote with a slow and painful deliberateness that took three times as long as the last time, then pushed the paper back to them. Under the string of wing dings in an awkward, childish script was, _It is nice to meet you, Frisk_.

Frisk's eyes flicked between the two sentences, matching symbols with letters. It was the same.

"Computers are a great help, of course." Gaster said, in his calm, languid voice, "But they were not common when I was young and I too was seen as less intelligent than I am because others judged me by my writing."

"What does wing dings sound like?" Frisk asked.

Gaster smiled and said something, a short sentence that sounded strange and harsh. Frisk's fist instinct was to think of it like another language but if it was wing dings then he was speaking the same language as before, just differently. "It's sort of like an accent?" They closed their eyes tight, "Can you say it again?"

Gaster repeated the sentence and though most of it still made no sense to their ears they caught little sounds, ccs, sounds, ouu, and sk.

Their eyes flew open, "Are you saying this?" They pointed to the paper, "It is nice to meet you, Frisk?"

He nodded.

"Can you say it again? Just one more time?" Frisk asked hopefully.

He smiled again, that interested, curious smile of his, and Frisk squeezed their eyes shut as he opened his mouth and spoke again. This time, knowing what he was saying, they picked out the nice, the end of the you and Frisk. They wanted to ask him to do it over and over again so they could listen, until they understood, but they knew better.

"that's him speaking really slow." Sans said, "you wouldn't catch any of it if pop's was speaking his normal speed. unless you're a font skeleton too. we can all understand each other, for some reason." he shrugged.

They all turned as Koshka walked out of the lab and headed over to their table. She paused, glancing from Gaster to Sans and Frisk.

"Is the analysis complete?" Gaster asked.

She nodded stiffly.

"Go on." He prompted.

Koshka looked at Sans and Frisk again, "I'm not sure..."

"i'm not going anywhere." Sans said stubbornly, sitting up straight and looking at Koshka defiantly.

Frisk glanced from Koshka to Gaster, curiosity fizzed through them, they weren't going to leave unless they were told.

Gaster looked at Frisk, tapping his fingers on the table in thought. He nodded to himself as he reached a decision and prompted Koshka again, "Please continue, Koshka."

She grimaced and sighed, "There were significant traces of D.T. in the sample tissue. You _were_ contaminated in the explosion."

"what's the percentage?" Sans asked, his voice sounding dry and tight, "how close is he to the threshold?"

Koshka's frown deepened and her ears flattened, "His exposure levels are at the threshold."

"over? under?" Sans brow furrowed.

"His exposure levels are _at_ the threshold." Koshka repeated grimly, "There's no saying what effect the D.T. will have. He might be fine. ...He might not."

Sans rubbed his eye sockets with a soft, shaky sigh.

Koshka's eyes briefly softened in sympathy but the careful, clinical expression snapped back as she turned to Gaster and narrowed her eyes, "Dr. Gaster. You cannot be exposed to any further D.T. without risking yourself. You will not go anywhere near the testing room. You will not handle any of medical, surgical or other lab equipment that might have residue of determination on it. You will not, under any circumstances, attempt to touch or interact with Frisk's soul."

"I thought I was the royal scientist in this room?" Gaster said with quiet amusement.

Her eyes narrowed further, "And I would like to keep it that way. Anything you need to do, I can do for you. I can be your hands, Dr. Gaster. You will not put yourself in any further risk in this regard. Do I make myself clear?"

Gaster smiled kindly, "Yes, Koshka."

She sighed and slumped as all the weariness of the day flooding into her.

"You should go home, Koshka." Gaster said, glancing up at a clock on the wall, "It is close enough to six and you should get some rest."

She shook her head, "I can't, you need to be monitored."

"Your family is waiting." Gaster said with a gentle shoo-ing motion, "I plan on staying here at the lab tonight and Sans can keep an eye on me. Staying here will only increase your grumpiness."

She slowly closed her eyes, pressing her thumb and finger to them briefly, "Fine." She dropped her hand and blinked open tired eyes, "Anything I can do before I leave?"

"If you would be so kind, on your way out, please inform Jack and Alphys that they may also go home," Gaster said.

Koshka nodded and turned to Sans, "Call me if anything happens."

"sure thing." Sans said.

Koshka gathered her things and disappeared down the hallway, the soft click of her shoes on tile fading as she headed towards the elevator.

"What about Gob?" Frisk asked, "You only said Jack and Alphys."

"Gob lives here in the lab. They stay in the server room." Gaster said.

"Oh." Frisk glanced up towards the hallway where they had seen Gob before.

"so, are you from the future or the past?" Sans asked leaning over the back of the chair.

Gaster's chair creaked softly as he leaned back into it, relaxing his folded hands.

"The future, I guess." Frisk said with a shrug.

"cool." Sans said, "there flying cars yet?"

Frisk shook their head, "No?"

"Frisk is not from that far in the future." Gaster said, "As if flying cars would ever be more than a logistical nightmare regardless of time period."

"cool though."

Gaster sighed, "Cool indeed."

"I'M HUNGRY!" Papyrus' loud whine interrupted their conversation. He sat up from where he had been laying on the bed with his mazes.

There was a moments silence and then Gaster turned towards his son and said gravely, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Hungry."

"DAAAAADD!" Papyrus groaned.

"I am Doctor W.D. Gaster," He continued flatly, "Have you perhaps met my son, Papyrus?"

Papyrus slowly slumped into the pillow, muffling his, "DAAAAAD..." of despair.

"i'll order take out." He poked Frisk in the arm, "anything you don't like?"

"I can't really eat spicy stuff." Frisk said.

"got it." Sans fished a very strange and heavy cell phone from his pocket and slipped away from the table to order them some food.

"Papyrus," Gaster called, waving for him to come over.

Papyrus ran over, bouncing to a stop at Gaster's knees.

"CAN WE GO HOME FOR DINNER NOW?" Papyrus asked hopefully.

"I have a favor to ask of you, Papyrus." Gaster said leaning over slightly to be closer to the little skeleton, "Frisk will be staying here at the lab for now-"

"HERE?!" Papyrus made a face, "BUT IT'S SO CREEPY!"

"Precisely," Gaster said, "I was hoping we could stay here with Frisk." He saw Papyrus horrified expression and reassured him, "Just tonight,"

"BUT IT'S SOOOOOO CREEEEEPY!" Papyrus groaned.

"Would you want to stay here all alone, the very first time you came here?" Gaster said.

Papyrus shook his head.

"That is why I want to stay with Frisk tonight. Do you understand?"

Papyrus nodded, leaned over slightly to peer at Frisk around Gaster's shoulder.

Frisk stared back and as they did he pulled his arms to himself, sinking his head down onto his chest. Frisk slid off their chair and walked around over to Papyrus, trapping him between Gaster and the table.

They held out their hand. When he didn't take it, twisting closer to Gaster; Frisk said, "I don't bite, promise."

Hesitantly, Papyrus took their hand loosely and shook it with deep reluctance.

"Your hand feels weird." Frisk said, turning it over to look at the small bones held together by, something, magic they supposed.

"YOUR HAND FEELS WEIRD!" Papyrus burst out, a little indignantly, and almost immediately clapped his mouth shut with a shocked click and twist of anxiety spreading across his brow.

Frisk smiled and turned their hand up and out for him to inspect, "Here."

He hesitated and then carefully poked their palm. When Frisk didn't yell at him or pull their hand away he became more bold, touching the fingers, squeezing the joints. He held out his hand next to theirs and compared.

"ARE YOU COVERED IN GOO?" Papyrus asked.

"I'm not gooey." Frisk said, poking their own hand. In a spurt of inspiration they added, "Do I look like a moldsmal to you?"

Papyrus looked at them like they were ridiculous, "MOLDSMALS ARE JIGGLY AND WIGGLY, NOT GOOEY."

"Like jello. But not jello." Frisk said.

"YOU'RE WEIRD."

Frisk was not sure how to respond to this in the face of a small hyperactive skeleton that had only one volume setting.

Papyrus didn't seem to care, drawing up his nerve and sticking out his chin defiantly, "DO YOU WANNA BE FRIENDS?"

"Sure." Frisk said.

Papyrus lit up, all nervousness disappearing, "REALLY?!"

Frisk nodded.

Papyrus arms shot out and he lurched forward, stopped only by Gaster's hand catching his shoulder and holding him back, "Papyrus."

"OH. RIGHT." Papyrus pulled his arms back and said, "CAN I HUG YOU?"

"...Ok." Frisk said a little hesitantly.

Gaster let go and Papyrus flew forward, encircling Frisk's middle in tight hug. Frisk cautiously hugged back, he seemed so little and fragile, made of fine small bones, but there seemed to be a lot of strength to him that they could feel on the tips of their fingers. They wondered if that was magic too.

"food'll be here in a bit." Sans said, grinning at Frisk and then Papyrus, "made a friend, huh, pap?"

Papyrus released them from the hug, vibrating with excitement, "YES!"

"It is wonderful to see you all getting along." Gaster said. "What did you order, Sans?"

"pizza." Sans grinned.

"UGH, GREEAASY!" Papyrus lamented.

"don't worry bro, i ordered a small one for you without cheese." Sans reassured him.

"THANK YOU, SANS!" Papyrus ran over and gave his brother a hug before running off, to weave around the beds in an pattern that only made sense to him.

Sans went upstairs to get the pizza and they all ate together around the table and Frisk experienced monster food for the first time. They went still with shock and interest as their first bite seemed to disappear as they ate it, leaving them swallowing nothing but leaving the taste and flavor behind like a specter of food. They cautiously asked about how it worked and Gaster happily obliged, talking at length about how magic figured into food preparation for monsters.

Sans shoved the leftovers into the staff fridge and soon they were all picking out beds for the night. Papyrus complained loudly about the lack of pajamas and teeth brushing. Sans had burrowed under the blankets of one bed as soon as dinner was finished, leaving only a lump under the pink comforter to show where he was. Gaster tucked in Frisk and Papyrus and after Papyrus whined about a bedtime story long enough, Gaster gave in and began telling the little skeleton a story. It was apparently a story Papyrus knew very well because every time Gaster got something wrong Papyrus would correct him and give him this look like he couldn't believe his father _didn't know_ how it went.

Gaster turned off the lights in the staff room, leaving the lights on in the small laboratory so the edge of the room was lit by a faint florescent glow. Frisk pulled the musty smelling sheets up around them and rolled over so they could watch Gaster. He was sitting on a bed across from Frisk's bed and for a long time he simple sat on the edge, the light outlining him as a grey shadow. Frisk watched until he laid down on his side with a sigh. They wondered what he was thinking about.

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Entry 10: Gaster

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Something was wrong.

Panic flooded through him. He tried to open his eyes, to move his arms. His body felt heavy. Couldn't move. He desperately wrenched his eyes open as the panic grew, lancing through him like fire. He focused on the overlapping shadows in front of him, his bright white hand, contrasting in the darkness; his bright white hand that seemed to be sinking into the bed, dripping and seeping down, melting like snow.

Every movement fought against him. He pulled, pushed, tried to clutch with the melting hand, to move even a finger. His soul pounded in his chest with such force he could feel it in his head like a drum. His hand twitched and just like that, the feeling of weight lifted and his hand began to pull together.

He slowly pushed himself up, sliding off the bed onto shaking legs that still seemed too heavy, too short, too wrong. He made his way into the laboratory, leaning heavily on the counter as he stared into his reflection in the mirrored doors. He looked like a wax figure of himself, drooping and heavy and half melted into a mass. As he stared the melting seemed to reverse, pulling into him, his fingers, arms and legs lengthening and separating from the back mass of his coat.

He looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers which seemed to be back to how they had been before. Examined his arms and legs with shaking hands. He ran fingers along the crack running through the top of his skull, evoking a faint prickling, wriggling sort of pain that grounded him. The flutter of his soul slowed, the panic abating and leaving in it's place only cold dread. What if he hadn't woken up?

Exposure levels at the threshold.

One thing was certain in Gaster's mind. He could not risk losing consciousness in any way.

He left the laboratory and let himself into his office. Turning on the small desk lamp and sitting down in the worn, cracked leather seat. He pulled his notebook to himself and grabbed a pen that shook only slightly in his hand.

If he couldn't sleep, he might as well work.

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(Next Update: Next Thursday, 9/29/16, in late afternoon, evening PST)


	10. Entry 11

(It's soo weird to write a Sans that still has hope. Nihilism is a huge part of his character in the game so writing him without that is... it's just weird.

Please feel free to comment or whathaveyou, I very much feed on the feedback. Like a vampire, except with attention rather than blood.)

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Entry 11: Frisk

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"what happened to the twenty four hour waiting period?" Sans' voice not-so-gently pulled Frisk from a haze of sleep.

"It is a twenty four hour _observation_ period, Sans." Gaster corrected with a clear disinterest in the point Sans was trying to make.

Frisk pulled one eye open and watched as Sans paced past. Out of the corner of their eye they could see Gaster standing still and watching him with a faint detached amusement. They pulled the blankets a little tighter around themselves, their eye fluttering half shut to watch the two through the curtain of their eyelashes.

"you know what i mean!" Sans said, stopping to throw up his hands and look at Gaster in frustration.

"I'm not planning on taking a jog, Sans. I am simply going to walk Papyrus to school and have a small discussion with his teacher and the head administrator about-" His voice shifted from amusement to threatening, "-improving my child's learning experience."

"i could-"

"You do enough, Sans." Gaster gently cut him off, "I am always grateful that you care for your brother so much but it has never been my intention for you act as a second parent to him. You have your own life to live."

Sans made a quiet sound of frustration.

Frisk opened their eyes and stretched under the blankets. Sleeping in their overalls left them with sore spots, where the metal and thick denim had pressed into their skin. They sat up and rubbed their arm where a button had left a perfect circle of red skin.

"Good morning, Frisk." Gaster said pleasantly, "Did you rest well?"

Frisk nodded.

"you tell him!" Sans said to them, pointing dramatically at Gaster, "even you know he should stay here and not be a stupid bone headed, numbskull with a death wish!"

Gaster smiled faintly.

Frisk paused and yawned, then said "I think, it'll be fine."

Gaster's smile twitched a little more broadly.

Sans shoulders dropped, "what?! that's not-"

"Besides," Frisk said with absolute certainty, "he's gonna do it anyway."

Sans sighed.

"Wonderful." Gaster said cheerfully, "Now that we have that settled-"

"do you at least have the cellphone jack and gob made for you?" Sans snapped.

"I believe it's somewhere in my office."

Sans stomped up to Gaster's office, to retrieve the cellphone, Frisk supposed.

Frisk to the opportunity to stretch and yawn again, rubbing the sleep from their eyes.

"I shall have to get you some more clothes to wear." Gaster said, "I might be able to find something at the apartment that would fit you."

Frisk nodded vaguely and the flopped back onto the bed, wiggling into the crumpled blankets, and debated whether it would be worth it to close their eyes for just a little while.

Sans returned and pressed the strange looking cellphone into Gaster hand, "take this. call if anything happens or you get too tired or, anything, and i'll be right there."

"You are not coming?" Gaster asked, surprise lacing his voice.

"i was gonna take the next two days off and hang out here at the lab with frisk. y'know, to help them settle in? besides," his voice took on a brittle edge, "you're gonna be just fine."

"I shall inform the school." Gaster said, "You won't be missing anything significant?"

"nah. we just finished a bunch of tests. they're just starting on a bunch of stuff i already know."

"Very well." Gaster said. "I shall stop and get some spider cider and doughnuts on the way, as a little treat for breakfast."

Sans sounded much more mollified, "you better get going. pap's already upstairs, probably wearing a hole in the floor."

Frisk pushed themselves up briefly to see Gaster give them an elegant nod farewell and sweep out towards the elevators.

Sans leaned against the headboard of Frisk's bed, making it wobble. They were both silent for a while til Frisk asked, "Spider cider?"

"made with real spiders." Sans said.

Frisk sat up with a bolt, "Really? Eight legs and creepy-crawly and everything?" they shivered.

Sans raised a brow, "they work the dust of their fallen into their pastries to transmute them into monster food. it's how they've done it for thousands of years. they're really good."

Frisk frowned and tried to be open-minded about the whole thing, "Is it gritty?"

Sans snorted, "nah. you can't even tell."

"Ok," Frisk said with a sigh, doing their best to mentally psych themselves up for the experience.

Sans pushed himself up off the headboard and grinned at Frisk, a mischievous look in his eye, "you wanna go upstairs?"

Frisk blinked, "But... Mr. Gaster said-"

Sans waved his hand airily, "pop's won't know. if we go out the back we won't run into anyone this early." He leaned a little closer. "come on, you want to see don't you? soon jack 'n alphys will have that keycard system up and then you won't be able to go up. this might be your last chance."

"Just a quick look?" Frisk said uncertainly, sliding off the bed.

He nodded and beckoned them to follow him, a little hop in his step and grin on his face as they wound through the long dark hallways.

It seemed like it took forever for the elevator to come and even longer for them to ride it back up. It was a very, very long elevator and Frisk wondered how deep underground the lab was. As the carriage slowed and came to a stop at the top, the air became warmer, a dry, prickly, desert sort of warmth.

Frisk glanced around as stepped out into a bright, clean room with pale blue floor tiles and pastel green walls. The upper lab was smaller but the ceilings were high, the lights were newer and brighter and the room was a simple rectangle rather than a labyrinth of corridors and strangely shaped rooms. Next to the elevator there was a conveyor belt leading to a back room, filling the air with a gentle, mechanical whirring sound.

"this way." Sans said softly, leading them to a gleaming metal door that slid open as he pressed a panel by the side.

A wave of dry, stifling heat washed through the door and the sounds of the lab faded with every step, replaced with the sounds of heavy machinery, vents, lifts and tons of conveyer belts whirring together. Below all the machine sounds, was something else, that seemed quiet and yet it overrode all other sound and made the hairs on the back of their neck stand up, a shifting and hissing rumble that they could sense better than they could feel. As if in a trance Frisk walked forward, Sans at their side. Smooth tile gave way to the gritty crunch of stone, gravel skittering away with each step. The florescent lights faded behind them and was replaced by deep red and orange light that seemed to make the air deeper and heavier.

Frisk edged towards the side of the narrow stone pathway, leaning their head over the side with their heart pounding in their throat. Sans caught their hand, holding it tightly, pulling their arm taut, as Frisk looked down into swirling pools of red orange magma, heat hitting their face like a furnace. Following the heat, they turned their head up towards the tall, cavernous ceiling, crisscrossed with precarious stone pathways and metal pipes and vents. And all around, barely visible, were walls of sheer stone, climbing up to a dark ceiling.

They were really truly underground. In a strange new world, made by monsters. The monsters had been thrown in here to die and yet they had made all this! Frisk's eyes widened at the thought, they had been given nothing and yet they thrived.

Frisk shivered. They felt a strange pressure, straight from the center of their being, too tight; just like the moment they had come here, pulled through time and space.

"frisk?" Sans asked, sounding concerned, tightening his grip on their hand.

They didn't answer, focusing every fiber of their being on that feeling and the overwhelming Determination that was filling them up from the inside out until they felt like they could do anything. If the monsters could do all this, they could keep going too! They could, they _would_ persevere. The world seemed to shiver, or perhaps it was their vision going blurry at the edges and the building pressure surged and something small and important inside them broke free.

Frisk shuddered. The intoxicating feeling of Determination, crackled through them like electricity in their veins. It felt hot and too tight and terrifying, and exhilarating. Their heart pounded like they had run a thousand miles. The hair stood up on the back of their neck and prickled down their back like fear.

Frisk held on. They endured the feeling, refusing to run or be afraid. This was magic. This was their magic. They could _feel_ it. It was real and it was _theirs_.

"are you alright?" Sans asked.

Vaguely they could feel how tightly he was gripping their hand and replied faintly, " 'M fine," too focused on what was important.

Frisk took a deep breath, curling their free hand into a fist, letting their nails dig into their palm. They followed the feeling of the Determination, operating on instinct and insatiable curiosity; they relaxed their hand, spread their fingers and pressed their palm out into open air. They pulled the determination to their palm and it formed like a ball of lightening, yellow-white and crackling violently with power and potential. It buzzed and shuddered, hissing and sputtering. The world seemed to stop, all sound, all movement froze for a breath, until the power settled into something that looked a little like a star and then everything jerked back to life once more.

Frisk slowly lowered their hand, staring at what they had created.

"are you really alright?" Sans asked again, "i think we should head back down."

Frisk looked at him and back at the star. They pointed to it in silent expectation.

Sans squinted in the direction of their finger, "can you see the core from here?" he asked.

Frisk glanced at the star again. "There's a star. Right here on the edge of the path." They pointed again, more emphatically.

He looked where they were pointing. Sans stepped forward and tried to line his arm up with Frisk, to pinpoint where they were pointing, his finger passing right through the edge of the star as he did. He squinted at the star even as he shrugged.

He couldn't see it.

Frisk stared and reached out, brushing the star with their hand, sending a jolt through their palm, up their arm and straight into the base of their skull with a tugging, throbbing, pushing that made their vision spin and go black.

"are you really alright?" Sans asked again, sweat beading on his skull.

Frisk spun on their heel, eyes widening in shock, their hand pulling free of his.

"...i think we should head back down." Sans said haltingly.

They spun back around and looked at the star. Frisk touched it again.

"are you really alright?" Sans asked again, sweat beading on his skull, "...i think we should head back down." Sans looked slightly ill and clutched his hand over his soul, fingers curling into the loose fabric of his shirt. His other hand once again held theirs like a tether.

"What does Determination do?" Frisk asked quietly, fixing Sans with their eyes.

He hesitated, still clutching his shirt and looking faint. "...pops would probably tell you."

"You tell me." Frisk said.

He pulled his eyes away from them, looking away into the vast darkness, "pops always said determination could overcome anything, even death. if you had enough of it, he said you could change reality. that was the theory anyway."

"Like time?" Frisk said softly.

His eyes jerked back and met theirs, "how do you know about the machine?" His grip on their hand loosened and he tried to pull it back. Frisk squeezed it tight.

They bit the inside of their lip to keep from smiling, "I just guessed. I did get pulled into the past by it. So it was a time machine?"

"sort of." Sans said, glancing away, "it could only go into the past. pops was obsessed with trying to get it to go into the future."

Frisk glanced back at the star, little points of information connecting and coalescing in their mind, "The Determination in the machine, it came from human souls?"

Sans jerked back like they had hit him, jerking his hand free, and he looked at them briefly, guiltily, before his eyes darted away. "i-it wasn't- the king was collecting them. they- they were already dead and pops- it would've been a waste not to study them."

"I don't care about that." Frisk said, "The Determination was taken from human souls?"

Sans looked at the lab doors, turning away from them, his voice laced with guilt, "we should head back down. so no one spots you."

It was as much of a confirmation as Frisk was going to get. "The machine can't go to the future because we haven't. The Determination can only move where it has been?" Frisk chewed on their bottom lip, "That would mean that the time machine would've only been able to go back as far as the oldest soul?" They looked up at Sans.

He was staring at them.

"What do you think?" Frisk asked.

Sans shrugged awkwardly, "er, could be? theoretical magic is more pops and koshka's field."

Frisk nodded and asked, "What else do you know about Determination?"

He hunched into himself, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walked back to the sliding metal doors with a, "we have to get back." almost mumbled, disgruntled in a way Frisk didn't understand.

Frisk could feel the star at their back, the pulsing, hissing magic as intense as a bonfire. They didn't reach back, they didn't touch it, they remembered the pull in their chest and the feeling of it and used their Determination. It shot through them like spitting fire, burning from their toes to the fingertips and they replicated the feeling, the pull, the pressure at the base of their skull and-

Frisk blinked at the star in front of them, squeezed the hand in theirs, bone pressing into their soft skin.

Frisk turned and asked, "Are you alright?"

Sans was looking even paler than before, clutching his chest and shaking. "...dizzy... all of a sudden..." his voice came out as a whisper.

Frisk took his hand and pulled it over their shoulder, supporting him and guiding him back into the lab. "You look kinda sick."

He barely managed a grunt of acknowledgment as they stepped onto the elevator and the doors slid closed. The air began to get cooler, damper as they descended. Frisk helped him back to the staff room and the bed he had slept on last night where he lay across the pink bedspread on his stomach, his breathing labored. Frisk wondered how a skeleton could breath for it to be labored.

Sans turned his head slightly to look at them, his brow furrowing slightly, "...did you ask a question?"

"I didn't ask anything." Frisk shook their head. They asked curiously, "What makes you think I did?"

He shrugged into the bedspread, "thought you did. coulda sworn..." his voice trailed off as his brow furrowed deeper and his turned to press his face back into the blankets. He tiredly waved one hand in a way that Frisk recognized as a sort of, whatever/I'm fine dismissal.

Frisk nodded. They patted his arm and turned on their heel, heading to the upper hallway and the media room, to see what else they could learn.

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(Next Update: Next Thursday, 10/6/16.)


	11. Entry 12

(Notes: Thank you ever so much for your support! I hope you enjoy~)

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Entry 12: Gaster

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Gaster unlocked their apartment, Papyrus bursting past him, pulling the door from his hand as he ran to his room.

"Hurry and get changed," Gaster called after him, swinging the door shut.

He was suddenly overwhelmed by the sensation of moving forward, of doing without actually taking a step. As if the world was overlapped and for a second he could feel, more so than see future potentials of this moment.

It just as suddenly snapped back into the present, with an unpleasant lurch, leaving him with a headache and a twisting discomfort in his soul. The cracks in his head ached and he touched them reflexively, feeling a distinct deja-vu in the movement.

He let himself lean back against the door as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small notebook and pen he kept there, carefully documenting as much of the experience as he could while the sensations were fresh in his mind. As he was putting it away, his fingers brushed the cell phone Sans had given him. His hand hesitated on the edge of the phone then he shook his head.

Pushing the notebook into the pocket more firmly, he made his way to his own room. He quickly sorted through some of his older clothes, grabbing an old tee shirt and sweater, then went to the closet in the hall and pulled down the box on the top shelf filled with Sans old clothes.

"I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO GROW INTO THOSE!" Papyrus complained as he bounced out of his room in a new outfit, a glaringly yellow and orange striped shirt that said _The Coolest!_

"And I thought you said they were all boring?" Gaster said, pulling out a few outfits that might fit their new visitor.

He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "SO?!"

"So," Gaster said patiently, "If I give these to Frisk, I shall have to buy you new clothes, more to your liking."

"REALLY?!" He perked up at the idea, "LIKE, COOL STUFF?"

He smiled and nodded, "Indeed."

Papyrus bounced with excitement as Gaster put the clothes in a bag. His excitement faded as they walked to his school and the unfamiliar, shy Papyrus once again made himself known, as he hung back in the shadow of Gaster's coat.

It was early enough that Papyrus was the first child to arrive at the school. The principal said he was too busy for a meeting which was of absolutely no interest to Gaster. He had Papyrus moved to a new class before school started and had time to speak with his new teacher, a large bear monster named Catherine. She listened impassively about Papyrus' needs and had his son run laps around the playground until class started. He hoped the new class would work out well as there weren't any other teachers for his age range in the New Home School.

Gaster went back down to the lab, bag of clothes in one hand and box of doughnuts and cider in the other. On his way through the upper labs, he saw a flicker of movement in the backroom and took the conveyer belt to back. If Jack had come in early he wanted to see the miracle with his own eyes.

It was not Jack, but Alphys, he supposed. He had very vague memories of meeting the young lady when Jack had pushed for her internship some three or four months ago. She was engrossed in working in her notebook and did not notice him until he sat his bag down on the floor.

She jumped, clutching her notebook to her chest with a startled squeak.

Gaster sat the box of doughnuts on the edge of the work table, carefully sitting down in the other chair at the work table. It was a small chair, Jack's most likely, and brought his knees up to the middle of his chest. "You are here early, Alphys."

"Y-yes, Dr. Aster" she stammered, her yellow scales turning red.

"Gaster is fine. I dare say I'm used to it now." He opened the box of doughnuts, "Would you like one?"

She looked at them hungrily but shook her head anxiously, clutching the notebook tighter to herself.

Gaster took a doughnut for himself, "We never had a chance to speak properly before. I do apologize for that, I was engrossed in a project."

"Th-that's fine." She said so faintly that he almost couldn't hear her.

"Have you enjoyed working with Jack?" He asked.

She nodded.

Gaster hmmed to himself, "I never took Jack for the mentoring type but it seems your interests align with his. You are an engineer?"

She swallowed hard, "...I l-like to make things."

"Are you still in school?" He asked.

She shook her head frantically, going a little pale at the idea.

"You tested out?"

She nodded and offered nervously, "I t-taught myself..."

Gaster finished his doughnut and delicately wiped his hands on a napkin, "Well, school is not for everyone. Sans attends for the social stimulation. How old are you?"

Alphys looked down fixedly at her notebook, worrying one edge with her fingers. "F-fifteen."

Gaster threaded his fingers together on his knees, "Jack has spoken very highly of you. Last night I reviewed your work since starting here, improving the phone network and the subsequent application of the wireless network to the power grid, to serve the whole underground with wireless magical electricity; it is all very commendable."

"O-oh n-no, not not really..." she said, growing more flustered, "it- it was Mr. Jack's- I j-just helped."

"I have no doubt that Jack was of great technical help, but the leap from wireless phone relays to power is not something he would think of," Gaster said.

Her head snapped up to argue with him but something in his expression stopped her.

Gaster continued, "Which is not to say Jack is not accomplished in his field. He is very capable when it comes to translating my ideas into reality and to improving existing equipment but he is not necessarily innovative."

Alphys nodded bleakly.

Gaster tilted his head slightly, "You should be proud."

She just gave another tiny nod, flushing redder.

"Is work on the keycard system going well?" He asked.

She nodded, "I th-think we'll be done in a few days." She glanced up and blurted, "I-I've been thinking I could make the cards so they're attuned to a monsters magical signature and that way even if they were stolen they'd only work for the monster whose magic was a-assigned the card and logged into the system." She finished all in a rush, looking about ready to explode with anxiety.

Gaster smiled broadly, "Remarkable. What a wonderful idea."

"R-really?" She looked up at him, losing some of her anxiety.

He nodded, "I look forward to seeing your progress."

She straightened up, "I-I'll do my best!"

He hmmed in thought, reaching up and tracing the crack under his eye, "...Alphys,"

"Y-Yes?!" She jumped slightly.

"Do you have any projects you would like to undertake? Once the keycards are complete."

Her eyes went wide and then she broke into a flurry of fidgeting, tail twitching, worrying the corner of her notebook, "M-Mr. Jack s-said I w-would be assisting him o-on fixing the, uhh, the machine, the one d-downstairs. IknowIhavn' -" She stopped abruptly, flushing.

"You may do that if you like." Gaster said smoothly, "But I am interested to know if you have any personal projects you would like to undertake. I encourage all my assistants pursue any personal projects they might have."

She looked down at her notebook, her fingers tightening around the battered papers.

He waited patiently, folding his hands together again.

Very slowly, she set the notebook down on the workbench, turning the pages until she found the one she wanted. She didn't look at him as she spoke as she said haltingly, "I-I have th-this friend? H-he's a ghost and, and-" she broke off and dejectedly pushed the notebook across the work bench in front of Gaster.

He leaned over and looked over a sketch of a robot chassis, designed to work with a ghost monster's soul. The design was... unique. He assumed it was meant to be humanoid but looked a bit silly.

The innovations she would have to pull off in terms of batteries and long term electrical magic and soul interfacing were quite ambitious. It also appeared the ghost wanted his soul to appear like a human soul, a pointless bit of vanity but it introduced the idea of manipulating monster souls in a way that had never previously been explored. She had some notes in the margins that hinted she had some ideas of how to go about it. It all looked very promising. It was all very impressive for someone so young.

"M-my friend? Metta, he, uhh, he wants to be l-like a star?" Alphys said weakly.

Gaster glanced up at her incredulously.

She startled and turned bright red, "L-like a movie star! He, he wants to s-start a t.v. s-station."

Gaster perked up at that. "Entertainment work?"

Alphys nodded feverishly.

"That could be very beneficial to the mental health of the Underground. Do you think him capable?"

She said eagerly, "H-he's really motivated! I'm p-pretty sure Metta can do anything he puts his mind t-to!" She wound her hands together, "I m-mean he's kind of overbearing sometimes b-but..."

Gaster took a deep breath and let it out slowly, tapping his finger on the notebook, "Well..."

She fidgeted, looking fixedly down at her feet.

"I will need to speak with this Metta." Gaster said, "Both to ascertain his dedication to the project and to make sure he is aware of the dangers." He traced the simple heart soul drawn on the lines paper, "If he is capable of integrating with the machine and become corporeal, his life will be in your hands for the maintenance and proper running of his new body."

Alphys squeaked a faint, "Yes."

"Good. Assuming that all works out, you may begin work on this immediately."

Her eyes widened.

He smiled, "Jack will still be your mentor and you shall report your progress to him weekly at a minimum. You may, of course, wish to speak to him more regularly, and do not be afraid to seek out assistance from him or-" he tapped his chin in thought, "-any of us really. Although, Koshka works with soul science primarily. She might be of help to you with the issue of flipping the soul."

"R-really?! I c-can really make it?!" She said asked excitedly.

He nodded, "And you shall report to me fortnightly. As for your project, I would suggest-"

She leaned forward intently.

"-that you consider designing a," he paused to search for the right words, "power save mode? This design-" he tapped the notebook,"-will likely require so much power that your friend would be unlikely to go more than an hour without recharging. It could prove to be quite limiting."

Alphys nodded quickly and flipped to the next page, showing a simpler, box design on a single wheel, "I-I thought s-so too. So I th-thought I'd make this first. Um," she bit her bottom lip, "M-Metta really hates it though."

"Allow me to speak with him on the matter. I daresay being the title royal scientist has to have some sort of weight behind it, though I have not yet seen any evidence behind that particular theory."

Alphys press her hands to her mouth, trying not to laugh.

Gaster stood carefully and smoothed his coat, "Please have your friend come to the upper lab at his earliest convenience. I shall only need to know a day ahead of time as we are between projects right now."

"Y-Yes, Dr. Gaster, sir!" Alphys said quickly.

"Good." He picked up a napkin and used it to grab a spider doughnut and press it into her hands, "I look forward to seeing how your project progresses, Alphys."

"Th-thank you!" She beamed.

He picked up the box and the bag of clothes and made his way down to the lower lab. He discovered Sans asleep facedown on one of the beds and left him to it. Sans needed more sleep than the average monster and far more than he was willing to admit to needing.

Gaster set the box of doughnuts on the table and the bag of clothes on one of the chairs. He spotted Koshka moving around her lab, early as usual. He headed up towards his office before she could spot him.

His office was empty and Gob was alone in the server room. He almost didn't see Frisk as he looked into the media room but caught the bright blue and pink of their shirt as he was about to leave. They were sitting back against the wall, a small stack of books beside them, reading school primers. They had stacked all they had found in order from those taught to baby-bones up to high-school. It seemed as though they were about halfway through.

"I have brought breakfast," Gaster said.

Their head snapped up, startled. They hurried to their feet.

"You may bring anything you wish to read along with you." He added.

"It's ok?" They asked, glancing at the bookcase nervously.

He nodded, "You are free to read anything in this room that catches your fancy. The only documents off limits are those in my office."

Frisk nodded and jumped to their feet, picking up four or five books to bring with them as they followed him back to the break room.

He was not as successful at avoiding Koshka on the return and walked over to meet her as she rushed out of the lab to him. He caught her by the elbow and walked her back into the moderate privacy of the laboratory.

"Doctor. Have you had any adverse side effects from the D.T. since last night?" She asked as they stopped in front of her computer.

"Hardly." He said blandly, "I have given some thought to the unfortunate level of my exposure and have come up with a possible solution."

She stiffened and frowned, "D.T. can't be removed, Doctor."

"Removed, no," He held up a finger, "but diluted?"

Her brow drew together. "Go on," she said warily.

He pushed up his sleeve, exposing the little divot in his arm from yesterday's test, half healed, with only a slight indent compared to when the sample had been taken. "The Determination is evenly distributed throughout my matter. If enough of my contaminated matter is removed and then subsequently re-heals over time-"

"The amount you're talking about would be statistically insignificant." Koshka said, "To remove enough to get you away from the threshold would take months, if not years."

"Not necessarily-"

"At a safe removal rate. It will take months, if not years" Koshka cut him off with a snap, "If you remove too much matter, too quickly, the strain on your soul could-" she sighed and crossed her arms, "-reduce your lifespan at best. Or, at worst, cause the D.T. to destabilize your matter in a cascade effect and cause the very thing we are trying to avoid."

"You are correct as always, Koshka." Gaster said with a beleaguered smile.

"Of course I am." She said warily, "And you are impossible as always, Doctor."

"Naturally." He said with a pleasant smile, sitting down on one of the stools and pushing up both sleeves. He held his arms out to her, "Shall we begin?"

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(Next Update: 10/13/2016)


	12. Entry 13

(Notes: Thank you for all the comments. Thank you so, so much. I had to get another job so my anxiety is a little high right now and I haven't had the energy to reply to anything but just know, getting all those comments and reviews makes my week. I really do appreciate it!)

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Entry 13: Frisk

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Sans sidled up to the table around noon, blearily rubbing his eye sockets, "readin'?"

Frisk glanced at him, looked at the stack of books and then back at him before returning to their book.

He snorted and pulled up a chair next to them, sliding his arms across the table and slumping on top of them with a sigh, "you read all these already?" He ran a fingertip over the spines of the books Frisk had pushing to one side as they had finished them.

They were reading an early high school level book and marked their spot with their finger before looking up.

"you must read crazy fast," he said sleepily.

"...I do read pretty fast," they said, "but it's not like I have to read it all. I already know math and science. I'm only reading about the stuff I don't know, like magic and monster history."

He nodded into his arm, "makes sense."

Frisk slid the book onto the table, forgetting about their place for now, "I wanna ask, what does everybody do? Here in the lab, I mean."

He glanced up at Frisk and then looked blankly across the table, "jack's an engineer. he makes the stuff that pop's designs. koshka studies soul magic and magic and basically whatever makes monsters tick. gob's magic lets them interface with technology, they code all our programs and keep the servers running."

"And Mr. Gaster?" Frisk asked.

Sans sighed, "i suppose... his specialty is theoretical magic but he can do everything the other assistants can do just not as well. pop's likes to dabble."

"He's the royal scientist, head of everything but he's not-?" they broke off brow furrowing.

"he has the ideas," Sans said, he reached across the table to the box of spider doughnuts and flipped it open. There was a bottle of cider and half a doughnut left. He took them both. "you gotta have the inspiration, the innovation, and what-not to think up all the different possibilities and that's what pop's has."

Frisk looked at the books on the table, "I read that he made the Core and that it powers the whole underground."

"yup," the half doughnut disappeared into the fold of his arm where his mouth was. After a few moments, he added, "he figured out how to make a geothermal power plant and how to convert the basic electricity into magic so it could power everything."

Frisk leaned forward slightly, "How, exactly, is magic electricity different than the regular kind?"

Sans slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows, pulling the cider over, so his chin rested on the glass bottle, "alright," he glanced over at them, "just stop me if i get over your head-"

Frisk nodded, frowning slightly.

"regular electricity works by building a surplus of electrons and then those electrons shuffle along a line of conductive atoms like copper until it reaches your toaster, or whatever, and powers it, right?"

Frisk nodded again, trying to mask their impatience.

"so the core takes those excess electrons and runs them through a magic field that alters their conductive properties so that they conduct to magic rather than an atom. now, to make sure we didn't have monsters getting zapped by rogue electricity, pop's put them on the end of the spectrum."

"Spectrum?" Frisk leaned forward slightly.

Sans pressed the cider bottle to his teeth and took a drink, "magic vibrates, like sound or energy, and along a similar spectrum. there's light and sound we can't perceive right? well, there's magic like that too. so it's tuned to be outside of the normal monster range."

"Does it travel on a magic wire?" Frisk asked in confusion.

"nah." he shook his head. "used to be a problem actually. we could only pipe magic at short distances so only the capital was powered. and the pipes had to be constantly resupplied with magic which sucked up a bunch of the core's power. then-" he tapped the side of the bottle with a musical ting, "-we'd figured out how to make cell phones work and make our own, we couldn't use towers, they wouldn't relay through the rock so pop's thought of using a magic frequency to transmit the signals, set up boxes all over the underground. once they were set up, jack n' alphys thought of using the boxes to also relay magic electricity. needed more boxes and it took more power than the cell phones had but less than piping the power through pure magic and, with one little box installed in your house and a relay within a hundred seventeen meters, and you've got power for the whole underground," He grinned, "it's been great."

Frisk shared his grin, "That's amazing."

"yeah. the older monsters are still super mopey about things but it's pretty alright down here."

"And Alphys is an intern, like you? And she makes things, like Jack?"

Sans nodded, "she's a couples years older than me, likes to tinker but she can code like gob, so she's a two-for-one special. if she wasn't so jumpy she'd have probably been made an official assistant already." He chuckled to himself but it almost had a self-deprecating edge to it.

"Are you an intern too?" Frisk asked curiously.

Sans shrugged, "yep."

Frisk could see he was trying to avoid talking about it but pushed a little anyway, "What's your specialty?"

He rubbed the back of his head and took a sip of cider a little too slowly, "i guess... i'm pretty interested in quantum mechanics and physics... mostly, i like trying out pop's theoretical stuff."

"His theoretical magic? What is theoretical magic?" Frisk asked hopefully.

"well..." Sans cleared his throat, "it's like a math problem. taking magic and pushing the boundaries of what ought to be possible. he works out all sorts of equations for fun, of little things that magic should be able to do, within the bounds of what we know and just design... magic."

"Like where you caught Papyrus in the air?"

He perked up, "you wanna see a demonstration?"

Frisk sat up and nodded excitedly, "Yes, please!"

Sans slid off his chair excitedly moved to the top corner of the room which was empty, Frisk following close behind him.

"i'm much better at showing than explaining," Sans said with an easy confident air. He held out his hand and furrowed his brow and a little spinning white pellet of light formed in his hand. "this is the most basic form of magic, just pure gathered energy."

Frisk leaned forward and Sans put out a warning hand.

"careful," he cautioned. "a monsters magic is only safe to touch by that monster, it'll hurt you otherwise."

Frisk leaned back, "All magic? What about food creation magic and healing magic?"

He smiled at them like they were a clever student, "that's specialized magic, it takes a long time to learn how to do, like five-year apprenticeships. this magic-" he gestured to his hand, "is unique to the monster, straight out of the soul and only attuned to the monster it comes from."

"Ok. What's next?"

Sans nodded, "this is basically baby magic. as a monster gets older, their magic develops into their basic attack, it's usually the same for same types of monsters. water for woshuas, ice for snowdrakes, and-" he flexed his hand and the little white ball of energy changed into a floating bone, "bone magic for us skeletons. not super original, i know." he chuckled, "but what can you do?"

Frisk watched as the bone dropped into his hand and he tossed it easily into the air like a baton.

"pap is just learning how to make his bones, he's super proud, you oughta let him show you sometimes, it'll make him really happy."

Frisk nodded, waiting patiently for more.

"now, some monster can learn to add certain characteristics to their magic, easier for some morphotypes than others." He tossed the bone into the air and it stopped, hanging in the air and turning a light blue.

Frisk narrowed their eyes, studying it. The bone almost looked translucent.

"hold out your arm."

Frisk looked at him guardedly.

"it'll be fine, trust me," he said with a chuckle, "hold out your arm and don't move it."

They slowly raised their arm away from their body and held it rigidly.

"don't move," Sans warned again and after a brief pause flicked his hand. The blue bone flicked with the motion and passed through their arm with a faint tingle.

Frisk suppressed a shiver, watching the bone sail past them and embed the floor and then fade away.

Sans held up his hand and another bone formed there, white again. "that's basic blue magic, lower density, higher energy in an unstable formation. it'll pass through anything but movement causes the magic to discharge and cause damage. so all you have to do when you see it is stay still. a lot of the royal guard can do this kind of magic."

Frisk rubbed their arm, "cool, what else?"

"well," Sans grimaced slightly, "there's orange magic, similar vein but opposite behavior," he squinted in concentration, "...not so good at this one," he muttered. The bone on his hand slowly changed color to orange and the edges seemed to vibrate. He spoke as if through clenched teeth, "this one, you have to move through, standing still lets the magic discharge."

"Can I?" Frisk asked, raising their hand towards the bone. They waited for him to stiffly nod and then swept their hand through the bone, feeling a similar tingle of magic running along their skin.

He let out a breath and the bone changed back to white. "usually, a monster can do either blue attacks or orange attacks but can't do both. the king can, he can switch between the two easy as breathing." there was a note of admiration in his tone.

"When you made Papyrus float, that magic looked blue, but it's different?" Frisk said.

Sans nodded, "that's soul magic. have you read about yet?"

Frisk glanced back at the stack of books on the table, "Yeah... basic colored magic effects a monsters attacks, while soul magic effects the opponents soul directly and impedes them in battle."

He nodded, "blue soul magic runs in the family. pops can do it and paps did it once on accident so he's got it too. it's a form of gravity manipulation."

Frisks eyes widened, "Gravity manipulation?!"

He grinned, "yeah, wanna try? it doesn't hurt."

They hesitated for only a moment and then nodded.

Sans held out his hand and Frisk soul appeared, red and bright. They felt something, it tingled and flooded their soul, changing the color of their soul from red to blue. Frisk stared at it and snapped their head up to look at Sans expectantly. His eye had a glowing blue iris the same color of his magic.

He flicked his hand down and they stumbled, their soul pulling down like someone had filled it will lead. He flicked his hand up and the heaviness disappeared and their toes lifted from the floor. Frisk gasped and wiggled their feet, letting out a startled giggle.

Sans carefully put them back on the ground and his magic faded, his eye going dim. Sweat beaded his forehead and his wiped it off on his sleeve.

"Sans?" Frisk said, "When you lifted me up, it felt like... like the weight was still there, but pulling me up to the ceiling."

His brows shot up, "you figured that out?" his said, impressed, "most monsters say it's weightlessness."

Frisk shook their head, "That doesn't make sense at all. You soul magic creates a gravitation pull, right? So you can pull up, down or side to side?-" He nodded and they continued, excited, "-That means, to make someone float like that, you have to pull up as strongly as the natural gravitation of the earth pulls me down!"

"a little stronger actually, to pull you up and then balance it out to stop movement." he said a little smugly.

Frisk laughed, "Amazing!"

"that's not all." Sans said eagerly, "i mastered that ages ago. watch-" he stepped back and his eye flashed blue and then he was gone with a strange tearing sound and a little sucking swirl of air where he had been.

Frisk spun on their heel.

Sans waved to them from the other side of the room and then, in a blink, he was gone and reappeared right in front of them making Frisk jump and laugh in shock.

"what do you think?" Sans said grinning expectantly, "pretty great, right?"

Frisk nodded, "That was-!" they laughed again, "just-! It seems impossible!"

He glowed under the praise for a bit then asked, "how do you think i did it?"

They hesitated, mind going a million miles an hour as they tried to remember everything they could about gravity, "...Gravity can distort space and time right?" they floundered after more concrete information but their knowledge of physics was so basic it hurt.

"as far as i can tell, i'm creating small, temporary wormholes, using tiny bursts of super-strong gravity to link two places. then i just step through before they close." Sans said.

"It's not dangerous?" Frisk asked because punching holes in space sounded pretty dangerous to them.

Sans shrugged. "pop's says to not do it outside of testing."

Frisk gave him a look.

He glared at them, "you're thinking i'm like him aren't you?"

Frisk glanced away.

"i've never blown myself up!" he said defensively.

Frisk pressed their mouth tight together to keep from smiling and changed the subject, "The books say that a monster can only do one kind of soul magic, it's like an inherited trait." they let the sentence hang like a question and looked at him expectantly.

Sans nodded grudgingly but couldn't help a conspiratorial grin. He stepped close to Frisk and said quietly, "well, that's what they say..."

"But?" Frisk prompted, curiosity piqued.

He shrugged vaguely, glancing around to make sure no one was close by, "i've been messing around... yellow and purple are similar enough to blue magic that i think i can learn to use them to at least enhance or augment my blue magic. i'm pretty sure i've used a yellow augmented attack but it wasn't controlled and i haven't been able to replicate it." his eyes were glowing brightly as he spoke, "pop's wrote some papers on it, mingled soul attacks. all theoretical, but i'm pretty sure if i can make a focus for the attack and tap into the yellow soul magic again, i can do it."

Frisk nodded in mute encouragement.

"that's a secret, alright?" he prompted, "pop's gets tetchy if i mess with magic outside monitored testing."

"...ok." Frisk said with just the slightest undercurrent of doubt.

He narrowed his eyes.

"I won't tell!" Frisk insisted. They added, mostly for their own satisfaction, "You'd probably keep doing it even if I told."

Sans sputtered indignantly, "wha-! i-"

"Lunch?"

They both turned to Gaster in the doorway, looking at them expectantly.

He smiled pleasantly, "Conspiracy suits you, Sans, you have the perfect glower for it."

Sans hunched into his lab coat, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Gaster only watched impassively as Sans settled into the very glower Gaster had teased him for.

Sans glared harder and Gaster's smile only became more pleasant.

The strange standoff was only broken when Frisk started laughing.

Sans ordered lunch and they all ate together. Gaster returned to his office and Sans plopped down at the table next to Frisk, reading over their shoulder and adding sometimes helpful comments and more often than not, sleeping in a sort of half doze. When work was finished at six, Koshka, Jack and Alphys left. Sans picked Papyrus up and they all ate together in the lab for dinner.

Frisk helped clean up as they were finished their meal of burgs and fries, that Papyrus had whined about endlessly as they were eating, and Gaster asked if Frisk wanted them to stay with them again. Sans said nonchalantly he didn't mind, Papyrus pouted silently, but Frisk could tell they didn't want to stay. Frisk couldn't tell how Gaster felt about it.

"It's ok." Frisk reassured them and smiled, "I'll be fine."

Frisk was left alone, except for Gob who rarely left the server room, and almost seemed to be half asleep or in a trance whenever Frisk peaked inside. They used the shower and pulled on a pair of faded cotton shorts, the elastic almost worn out on the waistband, and a baggy grey tee shirt that said 'Cool Dad'. Frisk giggled when they tried to imagine Gaster wearing it.

They woke early and grabbed one of the textbooks from the pile to read in bed until Gaster, Sans and the rest of the assistants showed up. It was slower reading now that they were in the late grades, there was a lot to read about magic and history and even some interesting science relating to how magic worked. Frisk skipped the puzzle sections of the textbooks, according to the chapter intros, creating puzzles was a cultural pastime of great importance to monsterkind. Frisk did not really get it.

"Pardon me," A gentle voice rumbled from the hallway, "Dr. Gaster? I know I am early but-"

Frisk stiffened. It was not a voice they knew.

"-I spoke with Principal Huefer. He said you seemed to be hurt and I was concerned."

The voice filled the room as whoever it was stepped inside.

Panic filled Frisk, their heart pounded so hard it hurt, the hair on their arms and neck prickling with anxiety but they couldn't move. Their breath caught in their chest in shallow panicked bursts. They needed to run or hide or- They could barely swallow, every muscle in their body tightened but would not budge.

"I was under the impression that your current project was not dangerous." Footsteps grew closer.

The figure of a giant, goat-like monster crested over the edge of the book propped up on their chest. He was huge. Taller than Gaster and three-times wider. He was wearing a comfortable looking sweater and was covered in a thick coat of fluffy fur. He seemed at first glance to be like a giant, gentle teddy bear but Frisk could not pull their eyes away from the small golden crown perched between his fearsome looking horns.

This had to be the king.

As Frisk felt their face go white in terror, his expression became grim.

The rigor-mortis of terror finally left their limbs but too late to do more than scramble off the bed.

The king's gentle eyes clouded with sadness and he dropped his head, hiding his expression. When he spoke his words were tinged with anger, "...Oh, Doctor." He shook his head.

Frisk gripped the headboard so tightly their fingers paled to match the paint.

He stepped forward, his shoulders straightening, the air buzzing with magic. "I am sorry, little one," the king said sadly. He reached out and Frisk felt him jerk their soul out, with none of the care Sans had, and bind it somehow, making them feel like they were trapped in by a boundary they could not see.

Frisk tried to back away but that binding, pulling feeling on their soul wouldn't let them take more than a few steps back before they felt like they were pressed against a wall. They wanted to beg, to ask for mercy, but all that came out of their mouth was a whimper.

"It shouldn't have been this way." The king reached out his arm and a trident formed, pulsing red and so heavy with magic they could feel it on their skin.

He swung the trident out, the magic cutting through the air with a sizzle that burned the air, and Frisk felt all chance of escape or mercy disappear.

"I am so sorry." he whispered.

The raised his trident and Frisk squeezed their eyes shut.

Frisk didn't see the attack but they felt the magic as it sliced through them like a molten fire, along every nerve as their soul shattered like glass and sank them into darkness.

 _._

 _.._

…

 _No more. I won't do it anymore! I refuse. I REFUSE._

…

Frisk opened their eyes, their own angry voice ringing in their head as dry furnace heat swirled around them. The yellow star of power buzzed in front of them.

Their soul was throbbing like an angry wound.

Frisk's breath caught in their throat and they choked on a sob. Sweat soaked their back. They were shaking so badly that their legs gently gave out and they sank down onto the rough stone path.

They barely registered Sans words but let him pull them to their feet even though he looked shaky too, somehow not as bad as last time, and they rode down the elevator in silence. In the lounge, Sans collapsed on the first bed. Frisk pulled the covers up from their own bed and crawled under, pulling them tight all around themselves. They pressed their face into the pillow so no one could hear them cry.

.

(Next Update: Thursday, Oct. 20 2016)


	13. Entry 14

(Notes: There won't be a chapter next week. I could use a week off and it's my birthday week so it works out. I'll post the next one november third.

Oh and **Trigger warning** that from this chapter on that Gaster uses mild self-inflicted pain as one of his methods to combat sleep deprivation.

Thanks for all the comments and support and the everything!)

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Entry 14: Gaster

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Gaster unlocked their apartment, Papyrus bursting past him, popping the doorknob out of Gaster's hand as he ran to his room.

"Hurry and get changed," Gaster called after him, swinging the door shut.

He was suddenly overwhelmed by the sensation of the world overlapping and a deva-vu that was almost painful in its startling clarity. He stood still in the moment as the feeling washed over him and made his head buzz, prickling along the cracks on his face. He reached up slowly and pulled his notebook from inside his coat and opened in.

There was a page of notes he did not remember making except that it was eerily familiar. They described the moment he had just experienced, a very similar deja-vu but with the sensation of multiple overlapping potentials and a much more pronounced physical response. He tapped his pen on the paper and carefully recorded the new loop.

It had to be a time loop. This moment had happened at least twice before but likely more. It was surprising that his previous observations had survived the loop.

He tapped the end of the pen on his chin.

Or perhaps not.

Last night, he had fallen asleep and his clothing had partially fused to him before he returned to his normal state. He was quite certain they been tainted with Determination in the explosion which would mean that everything else he had on him at the time was also contaminated and was able to retain properties of past loops. Unfortunately that was limited to his clothing, the notebook, pen and a few candy wrappers. He counted the pages of the notebook that he had left and frowned. He would have to write very small.

Gaster put the notebook away, tracing the crack that ran under his eye and noting the lingering deja-vu. In addition to what he had planned for the day, he changed out of the contaminated clothes and into a nearly identical outfit of a white, high collared shirt, black slacks, and his only other long black jacket. With some disappointment, he bagged the contaminated clothes to throw into the magma pool before returning to the lab.

Otherwise he stuck to his plans for the day, getting clothes, talking with Papyrus, taking him to the school. He tracked the feeling of deja-vu, noting how his awareness of it seemed to fade the longer he experienced it. In order to not lose track the feeling he periodically stopped what he was doing, to break from the loop before letting it reassert itself and letting the feeling of having been here before wash over him.

He took note of the series of events of the day as briefly as he could during the elevator ride back down to the lab. On his way through the upper labs he saw a flicker of movement in the backroom, Jack most likely. Theorizing on this exciting new development was his immediate priority and he decided to speak with Jack later. As he walked to the elevator and hit the call button he felt the deja-vu end abruptly and he froze, shuddering as if he had been dashed with cold water.

He stiffly turned on his heel and headed towards the back, letting the deja-vu wash back over him and guide him. He went through the conversation with Alphys, trying to stay engaged and letting the prickle of the past pull him along.

As he was in the elevator heading down to the main lab he mused that he was glad he had had the conversation with Alphys. In hindsight, it was a good meeting and had many implications for the future. Jack had been right that the girl was worth investing in.

The break from the deja-vu right before speaking with Alphys had been significantly more intense than any of the other brief breaks he had made. That meant it was either an important moment or it was simply that it was such a significantly large amount of time to change it had had a bigger physical sensation accompanying it. Gaster was not a fan of the idea of fate, it was far too limiting but it was a possible explanation.

In early builds of the time machine, when they had only been able to use it to create crude graphs of future potentials, there were multiple points where the timeline would converge and then split. He wondered if that had been a similar point, where all timelines met and then were allowed to split again depending on what happened during that moment. He would have to speak with Sans, he was far better versed with quantum entanglement and Gaster suspected that this could relate to the 'many worlds' theory, with many different realities laying alongside their own, each one made by a different choice.

The elevator opened and he made his way the break room, finding Sans laid out on a bed asleep. A lump curled beneath the blankets of another bed indicated Frisk was also still in bed.

Gaster's steps slowed as he walked across the room. The feeling of deja-vu slowly faded, like it was becoming more diluted, vague. He pushed the box of spider cider and doughnuts onto the round table and paused there. Something was different.

He turned and looked around the room. There was almost no sensation of deja-vu left now. it was still there but faint. He was fairly certain he hadn't left the time loop but something had happened enough to change the time stream that things were no longer lining up the way that they had before. Was it the lab? Was it one of the people in the lab? Was it Frisk?

He stared at the lump hidden by blankets moving slowly with their breathing. These strange deja-vu events had not happened before the explosion, before they came.

That he knew of.

Gaster frowned. It was possible that the deja-vu sensations, possibly linked to concurrent timelines overlapping, were caused by either the time machine exploding _or_ by Frisk, whose soul was driven by Determination. On the other hand, it was equally possible that these sensations of the timelines had happened before the explosion but were undetectable by him until he had been contaminated with Determination.

He sighed and rubbed his skull, sliding his fingers along the smooth surface until they were interrupted by the crack which he traced absently in what was fast becoming a self-soothing and grounding behavior.

Once Jack was finished with the new security measures the time machine _had_ to be rebuilt. Gaster needed to look at the timeline again.

He shook his head. He couldn't afford to get sidetracked. There were far more pressing matters to deal with. Mainly, removing enough Determination from himself to allow him to sleep.

Gaster did not need a lot of sleep, he normally only slept three to four and a half hours on average. However, the lack of sleep would begin to have detrimental effects that would only grow exponentially with every night. If he failed, and the Determination succeed in overwhelming him, he would likely lose himself permanently. There was only one case to reference what might happen to him but it was a risk he was unwilling to take.

He walked over to the laboratory and spoke with Koshka, pulling out a stool and sitting to have her remove as much matter as she calculated would be safe to dilute the Determination. His arms stung as he pushed his sleeves back down but he gave no sign of his discomfort. The stinging lent him a brief illusion of alertness robbed from him by the lack of sleep.

Gaster paused on his way to his office, Frisk was sitting at the table, a doughnut in hand and half a bottle of cider in front of them, two books next to them and one open in front of them. Their hair was tangled and mussed into a haze of hair, evidently left just as it was when they crawled out from under their blankets. He walked over to them, reading the spines of the books once he was close enough. They were school primers for the last years of monster schooling before specialized higher education.

Frisk looked up at him when he stopped by their chair, "S' ok?" they asked quietly, hands spreading out over the printed page.

"I see you found the media room," Gaster said.

They nodded.

He looked at them more closely. Their eyes seemed different, tired, faintly red. "...The media room is entirely at your disposal," he said after a pause.

"Thanks." They mumbled, taking a bite of doughnut and returning to their book.

Gaster touched the two books on the table, his brow furrowing faintly as he tried to put a finger on what felt off. Something felt off.

"Mr. Gaster?" Frisk was looking up at him again.

He managed a, "Hmm," of acknowledgment and put his hand on their head, straightening their hair absentmindedly as he scoured his thoughts for the source of what was throwing him off even as it faded. "...Poppet, did you notice anything strange after I left with Papyrus this morning?"

"Anything strange?" They repeated.

He dropped his hand and looked down as they turned their head up, "Yes. A strange feeling, almost like deja-vu."

They shook their head, "No. I didn't feel any sort of deja-vu." their brow furrowed, "Did something happen? Are you ok, Mr. Gaster?"

"I'm perfectly adequate at the moment, thank you." He said smoothly, "Do tell me if you experience anything that feels strange."

They nodded, looking up at him until he nodded and headed to his office with another doughnut. He left the doughnut to the side in favor of pulling a candy from the dish on his desk and popping it in his mouth and letting his mind drift free.

He pulled his larger notebook to him and a pen, jotting down what he knew for certain and his theories. He picked at the doughnut, popping chunks of it into his mouth as he wrote. He stopped abruptly as he felt, something.

Gaster stood up and opened his door, moving more slowly as he headed towards the soft murmur of Frisk and Sans voice. He eased the door shut with a faintest click and walked soundlessly down the hallway. He stopped next to the door way, leaning by against the wall as he listened.

"that's a secret, alright?" Sans prompted, "pops gets tetchy if i mess with magic outside monitored testing."

Gaster raised his brows.

"Ok," Frisk said, somewhat cheekily.

There was a pause and Gaster smiled imagining the glower on Sans face.

"I won't tell." Frisk snickered. They added, smugly, "You'd do it anyway."

Sans sputtered indignantly, "wha-! i-"

Gaster smiled and stepped out, "Lunch?" he asked, looking at them expectantly.

They both turned to him. Sans jumped but quickly tried to hide his surprise. Frisk's eyes were glittering with amusement.

He smiled pleasantly, "Conspiracy suits you, Sans, you have the perfect glower for it."

Sans hunched into his lab coat, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Gaster only watched with great pleasure, keeping his face impassive, as Sans settled deeper into the very glower Gaster had teased him for.

Sans glared harder and Gaster's smile only became more pleasant.

The strange standoff was only broken when Frisk snorted and shook their head.

"Come on then," Gaster said, "Let's get something to eat and afterward, I would like to have a word with you, Sans." He felt quite pleased with the way Sans stiffened with dread and began to sulk.

They ate lunch, Frisk asked a lot of interesting questions about magic that suggested a bit more about what Sans had been talking to them about. Even Koshka and Glob joined them briefly and it was all quite companionable.

"Come to my office," Gaster told Sans as lunch broke up, quirking a finger for his son to follow him.

He sat behind his desk with a sigh, squeezing his hand over his arm and rubbing the rough fabric into his arm until it stung and throbbed once more. He took a deep breath to try and push some of the weariness from his mind.

Sans slouched into the room and slumped onto one of the chairs.

Gaster crossed his fingers in front of him, watching Sans in silence and waiting; in case he might be able to wring some interesting confessions out of him but, alas.

Once the waiting got boring Gaster said, "I was wondering if you had experienced any strange physical or psychological sensations this morning after I left, around-" he peered down at his notes, "-eight twenty-three?"

Sans eyes flickered. It had not been what he was expecting and yet- He sat up straighter, leaning forward in his chair, "yeah. i dunno what time but this morning i got this dizzy feeling that stuck with me for a while. rattled my bones something fierce."

Gaster smiled faintly at the pun. "Would you say the dizzy feeling began to fade around the time I returned?"

Sans brow furrowed and he shrugged, "i was out of it so i couldn't tell you for sure."

He nodded, "You said you felt dizzy-" Sans nodded, "-how did the feeling compare to the sensation of deja-vu?"

Sans went still and leaned back in his chair, "deja-vu?" he said faintly. He scratched the side of his head, "that- …could be. but... it was like whiplash compared to any sort of deja-vu i've ever had before. i mean, it hit hard and it felt awful. did you feel it too, pops?"

Gaster nodded and pulled the notebook out from his inside pocket, writing a few notations. "...It did not affect me to quite the same extent. I have far more Determination in my makeup..." he paused in thought, "However, you likely have more in your soul."

"pops," Sans prompted impatiently, "what's going on?"

"I believe," Gaster said slowly, writing as he spoke on his larger notebook, "there is a time loop occurring at eight twenty this morning."

"a time loop?" Sans voice sounded faintly choked, " you think this morning has already happened before?"

Gaster tapped a finger on his smaller notebook, "More than just once. My notebook seems to have been contaminated with Determination in the explosion. It has saved my observations of this day happening before."

Sans leaned forward with surprising speed to snatch the small notebook.

Gaster pressed his hand over it and slid it back out of reach. He paused in his writing and glanced up at Sans, "That is hardly necessary."

Sans glared at him, "if it's contaminated you shouldn't be touching it!"

"Hmm." Gaster hummed dismissively.

"pops!" Sans looked ready to jump off the chair and stomp around the desk and wrestle it from his hands.

Gaster pinned him in place with a cold look.

Sans froze.

He slowly put his pen down, "Have you ever experienced any similar sense of deja-vu before this morning?"

Sans shook his head stiffly.

Gaster nodded and carefully made a notation. He needed to interview some of the other D.T. patients but it seemed more likely that this time loop was the first.

"That helps narrow things down at least."

Sans gulped faintly and slowly slumped back, "what's going on?"

"A time loop occurred at eight twenty this morning, has happened at least twice, though my observations of the first occurrence seem to indicate multiple loops layered upon one another. It is likely caused either by the explosion destabilizing the timeline or by Frisk; as those are the only significant amounts of Determination to have occurred within twenty-four hours."

"frisk?" Sans said faintly and Gaster saw suspicion flit across his face.

Gaster threaded his fingers together and waited.

"...when it happened...the deja-vu," Sans said slowly, "frisk felt it too, i think."

Gaster narrowed his eyes slightly.

"they were shaking, their legs gave out and... they were pretty pale."

"I see." Gaster said shortly.

"we both laid down after that. i was too shook up to really think about it much at the time," Sans said faintly. "you think they had something to do with it?"

"Perhaps." Gaster conceded absently, wondering why they had _lied_ to him.

"maybe they were just as shook up by it as i was? they have more determination than anyone down here." Sans added hopefully, "after all, they were pulled from the future, it would be weird if the timeline wasn't a bit buggy right now."

"Buggy? We hardly live in a computer simulation, Sans." Gaster said.

Sans shrugged, "just a figure of speech."

Gaster nodded and shifted the conversation to physics and had Sans give him a run down of how what had happened could tie into what had happened. Gaster hadn't even realized how long they had spoken until Koshka poked her head in to tell him she was leaving. Jack poked his head in briefly afterward and gave a very short progress report on the elevator security and then disappeared.

"we better get moving, penny's off in a half hour and we can't leave pap alone," Sans said as they left his office and headed for the lounge.

Frisk was still sitting at the table, apparently almost finished with their book. They glanced up as Gaster stepped inside.

He studied them curiously.

Sans stopped halfway across the room and called over his shoulder, "pops?"

Gaster nodded vaguely in his direction in acknowledgment.

Frisk twisted in their chair, "You're leaving?" they asked, their voice sounding very small with an undercurrent of fear in it.

Fear. Afraid of what? Is that why they hid the truth from him?

"Do you feel comfortable staying here alone tonight, Frisk?" He asked.

They shivered and shook their head rapidly, the fear in their voice creeping into their expression, "...stay? Please?"

"...Hmm..." Gaster tilted his head slightly. Spending more time with them could only be of benefit, whether he learned the truth or gained more trust with them. He felt quite certain that confronting them about the lie was not wise. In the end, Frisk had only known them a day and a half, it would be foolish for them _to_ trust him.

He nodded, "I shall go up and put Papyrus to bed and return. Would that be alright?"

They nodded, looking overwhelmingly relieved.

"Would you mind taking Papyrus to school in the morning, Sans?"

Sans shrugged, "fine with me."

"I shall return soon," Gaster said.

.

(Next Update: November 3rd)


	14. Entry 15 & 16

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Entry 15: Frisk

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The last of the echoing footsteps from Gaster and Sans disappeared down the hallway and the silence grew, ringing in their ears, making their breathing and heartbeat seem too loud. Last time it had been easy to be alone here but now, now anxiety crawled under their skin and made their chest feel too tight.

They snatched the change of clothes from the bag Gaster had brought and rushed to the shower room to shower and change. They reluctantly headed back to the break room, knowing Gaster wouldn't be back for a while.

A wave of warm air made them pause and take a step back, looking into the server room. The room was dark except for the blinking lights from the server towers. Frisk tapped a knock on the door as they pushed it open and stepped inside.

They looked for a light switch near the door but hesitated to flip it. Gob was still inside, eyes closed. Frisk knocked on the door again, a little louder this time.

Gob opened one eye that slowly swiveled back to focus on them.

Frisk shivered, "S-sorry, I just- It's just..."

Gob slowly blinked at them and slowly turned back towards the inner room.

"...I should go..." Frisk said hesitantly, clinging to the doorknob to pull it closed.

A larger, older computer monitor sitting on the ground near Gob flickered on. The screen stayed black even as it hissed with static.

A green line of text wrote across the top. ' _Hello. Please come in.'_

Frisk let go of the door and took a few steps inside until they were standing next to Gob, looking down at the monitor, "Is that you?" They asked glancing at the Gob.

Gob nodded slowly, their eyes shutting again like they were resting. The screen said, ' _It's good to have a chance to talk to you properly.'_

"Yeah." Frisk said softly, dropping down to sit on the floor in front of the monitor, "You talk a lot... faster this way."

' _Yes. My magic allows me to interface with computers and communicate a lot more efficiently than with my body. Trying to talk physically is like-'_

The cursor paused briefly and Frisk patiently waited for Gob to continue.

' _-trying to run in water. Everything is slower and more difficult. I suspect my difficulties come from my parents being so vastly different from one another. One of my parents was a moldsmall.'_

"And your other parent?" Frisk asked.

' _A humanoid, she resembles what humans think of as a demon. It was a strange relationship but they loved each other.'_

Frisk blinked, brow furrowing as they tried to contemplate the strange couple. Then they frowned as they remembered, "But moldsmalls, they don't live very long right?" They clapped their hand over their mouth, "sorry..."

' _It's fine. You are correct, Burble, my moldsmall parent, fell a long, long time ago when I was still very young. I have only one or two very vague memories of them. I was fortunate that my soul strength took after my mother and I have lived as long as I have.'_

"How old are you?" Frisk asked anxiously.

Gob's body rumbled with a sort of chuckle, _'Twenty-six. Dr. Gaster took regular readings of my soul in the first three years I worked for him. He says that at the rate of my soul magic is decaying I should expect to live to about forty-five._ '

"That's not very long," Frisk said faintly.

Gob chuckled again, ' _Perhaps not for you but it is far longer than I thought I would live.'_

Frisk bit their lip and nodded.

 _'Have you been doing well here at the lab?_ ' Gob asked.

Frisk shrugged then realized Gob wasn't looking and said, "It's been ok. Kinda weird... sometimes scary..."

' _Has everyone gone home?'_

"Yeah." Frisk said, squeezing their legs, "Mr. Gaster said he would come back but he hasn't yet."

' _You may stay here as long as you want to and visit whenever you wish._ ' Gob said, ' _I enjoy the company._ '

"Thank you!" Frisk jumped to their feet, "I'm gonna get some pillows and I'll be right back, ok?"

They hardly saw Gob's response before they ran back out to the lounge, filling their arms with pillows and dragging a comforter behind them back into the warm server room.

"I'm back." They said a little breathlessly. They left the door open a few inches and arranged the comforter and pillows on the floor and laying down, chin propped up to look at the monitor.

' _Are you comfortable now?'_ Gob asked.

"Yes!" Frisk said feeling much calmer inside the small room. "Sans said you are in charge of the servers?"

' _Yes. I run the servers for the underground and maintain and write all the programs. Right now I am repairing some of the damage caused by the explosion. There was a surge of power and quite a few servers crashed. I am restoring what I can, and recovering data.'_

Frisk glanced around at all the different server towers gently humming and warm with power, "Don't you have surge protectors?"

Gob laughed faintly, _'Yes. But the surge was quite a bit stronger than they were designed to handle. I do wish that Dr. Gaster would not risk himself so carelessly.'_

"Mr. Gaster is strange," Frisk said.

' _Dr. Gaster has been very good to me. He is a good monster.'_ Gob opened an eye and peered down at them.

Frisk wiggled into the blankets nervously and Gob slowly closed their eye again.

Vivid green script began to flow across the screen, ' _When I was young they thought I wasn't smart because I was so slow. The school wouldn't take me because I would require so much extra help to succeed in any way. My mother managed to obtain a repaired computer from the dump. I learned a lot just from examining the programming and she did what she could to obtain more programs and information for me. Eventually, she went to Dr. Gaster because he was in charge of the Underground's servers. He could have easily turned her away-'_

Frisk nodded absently.

' _But instead, he invited me and my mother here and allowed me to interact with the computers they had at that time. He said I had great potential and took me on as an intern and student that day. That was eighteen years ago.'_

"Wow," Frisk said faintly. They stared at the monitor and then looked up at Gob, "Tell me more stories?" They asked.

 _'I think I can do that'_ Gob smiled.

 _._

* * *

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Entry 16: Gaster

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Gaster stepped off the lab elevator with a sigh. Papyrus had taken longer than normal to get to bed and then Sans had wheedled all sorts of promises out of him, to rest and not push himself and to keep his cellphone close at hand.

His footsteps echoed down the shadowed hallway and he reached up and rubbed his face, pressing his fingertips along his eye sockets and the jagged cracks in his skull, taking a deep breath at the prickle of pain that cleared the fog of exhaustion from his head, at least for a little while.

He stopped a few steps into the lounge. It was empty and at least one bed had been stripped of blanket and pillow, a few other beds were also missing their pillows. Gaster walked more slowly, glancing around to make sure he didn't miss anything. He peered into the lab and then headed up to the hallway. He heard a sound coming from the server room and walked a little faster, peering into the room.

Frisk was laying on the ground next to Gob, watching Gob's monitor. "What did Jack do?" Frisk asked with anticipation.

The screen was too far for Gaster to read. He watched a little longer, seeing Frisk's head sink further into the pillows, their voice turning into a faint murmur as their eyes fought sleep.

Gaster nodded to himself and returned to the lounge, heading straight for the coffee pot. He set the machine to making a pot of the darkest coffee he could stand and went to the lab while it brewed. Gaster pulled open the mirrored storage cabinets one after another, touching nothing, running his eyes over the contents, one shelf at a time. In the third cabinet, on the bottom shelf, he found what he was looking for; a spare matter sampling gun still sealed in its plastic bag. He took it out and slipped it into his pocket.

Back in the lounge, he took the full pot of coffee back with him to his office. He filled the cup on his desk, sitting down with a sigh and hating how comfortable the chair was. He tore the sample gun from its plastic and leaned over, pulling up a pant leg and applying the gun to his leg. He let out a hiss of pain as he pulled the trigger. He hadn't been prepared for how much more it would hurt without topical numbing. Gaster let his pant leg fall back over the sore little circle and grimaced at the discomfort of the fabric rubbing faintly with his every movement.

He leaned back into the chair and put the sample gun in one of his desk drawers, dropping a file on top of it to hide it from the sight of a casual observer. Gaster agreed with Koshka, that taking too much of his matter might destabilize him but he also knew if he fell asleep he would anyway. It was a race against time. He traced the circles cut out of his palms. He had let Jack take the Excisior apart once Papyrus had been born but he could make it again if he had to.

He grabbed his large notebook and flipped to the page in the back, writing in wingdings which only Sans would be able to read, and checked his calculations. The amount of matter he would have to remove. In possibly only a few days at the rate his exhaustion was proceeding.

Gaster picked up his coffee and quickly drank half the cup, wincing at the heat. He put the mug down and got to his feet, opening the second drawer of his filing cabinet and leafing through the files until he found the original blueprints for the Excisor and sat down with them.

He wasn't sure he had the time to redesign it to allow him to remove matter from a rounded surface. He _could_ make it bigger though. The only surface he had that was flat enough for the machine would be his torso. He suppressed the faint shudder at the idea and pushed it from his mind as an unnecessary distraction.

Gaster picked up his pen and began working on the calculations.

The coffee in the pot dwindled. Gaster blinked wearily for all that the coffee made him faintly jittery. He shifted his legs under the desk to rub his ankles together and winced at the bloom of pain, taking a deep breath and trying to steady his thoughts.

He refilled his cup with the last of the now cold coffee. As he was setting the pot down and reaching for the mug he thought he heard a faint voice. It was low and masculine and though he couldn't make out clearly, he knew without a doubt that it was not a voice belonging to anyone who worked the lab.

Gaster startled to his feet with a surge of adrenaline and hurried out the door, his ear straining towards the voice. He looked into the server room briefly and was relieved to see Frisk still inside, sleeping beside Gob. He pulled the door shut quietly and walked to the lounge.

"Doctor? Are you here?"

It was Asgore. Annoyance mixed with faint fear in his gut. Gaster took a second to smooth his rumpled clothes and put a pleasant smile on his face, then stepped into the room.

Asgore was slowly walking through the lines of bed and paused when he spotted Gaster, "Good morning, my friend. I was hoping to discuss your current project." His words were friendly but held hidden tension.

Gaster covered the distance to stand before the king, noting with some mild concern that he was wearing his full armor. "How can I be of assistance, your highness?"

Asgore frowned deeply when he saw Gaster and looked him over critically, "...I spoke with Principal Huefer. He said you seemed to be hurt and it seems I was right to be concerned. What has happened to you Aster?"

Gaster sighed inwardly, "There was an unexpected explosion during testing."

"I was under the impression your current project was not dangerous," Asgore said, a warning tone in his voice.

Gaster smiled brightly to mask his growing tension, "It was no more dangerous than any other machine, I can assure you. It simply overloaded and there was a minor explosion. It was just an unfortunate accident."

"Doctor." Asgore sighed, reaching his hand out and squeezing Gaster's upper arm briefly, "Are you alright?"

Gaster nodded, "Of course. The only true injury I sustained are the cracks in my skull," he reached up and tapped the lower one, "My eye can no longer fully open but it is undamaged. It is only a minor hindrance."

"And the rest?" Asgore said with only the slightest hint of annoyance, gesturing with his other hand to Gaster.

"Ah." Gaster said faintly, "I believe the surge of power during the explosion caused my matter to destabilize briefly. I am quite solid now." He spread his hands in front of himself before clasping them together. "It was odd at first but at least I no longer have to worry about my joints getting caught in things."

Asgore laughed politely at that before the somber expression returned to his face. "You worry me, Aster," he shook his head, "I had hoped, removing your access to the souls might confine your work to safer avenues."

Gaster stiffened and with some effort, kept the venom from his voice, "Yes, well," he said shortly, clearing his throat. "The D.T. extractor was disabled and all work on fallen monsters was halted, as you ordered."

"It was for the best," Asgore said with that infuriatingly gentle voice and squeezed his shoulder as if that was supposed to comfort Gaster. He continued, "In light of this explosion-"

Gaster narrowed his eyes.

"-I believe it may be best if you report to me on your projects every other week, rather than quarterly." He sighed, "I do not doubt your genius, Aster. Your work has benefited all of monsterkind greatly and will no doubt continue to do so. I worry, however, about your lack of self-control."

Gaster bristled, "Nonsense, I am perfectly able to-"

"Now, now, Doctor." Asgore said soothingly, "I have no wish to anger you but your safety and the others in your employ is too important. If you press me," he said warningly, "I will be forced to employ an inspector to check on the progress of your projects personally and regularly."

Gaster stilled his anger and managed a chilly, "I understand, sire."

Asgore nodded, "I must get back. Will hopefully have time to speak with at greater length in the future."

Gaster bowed his head stiffly.

He turned to leave and then hesitated, half turning back, "Take care with your commutes between here and New Home... I have reason to believe a human may have fallen into the Underground."

All of Gaster's anger was instantly replaced by curiosity, "Have there been sightings?"

Asgore hesitated again, "Not as such. It is just a feeling but it has not been proven wrong before and I have no reason to doubt it now. Warn your assistants as well."

"Yes, sire." Gaster said mildly as he watched the king leave.

He had wondered if Asgore might be able to sense the time loop. The king's body tolerated more Determination than the average monster because of the strength of his boss monster soul and his levels were unusually high, high enough that he was able to manifest it into a trident.

The king's statement had other interesting implications. If he had felt time loops before, then possibly the other humans had also been able to effect the timeline. The chances that all the humans who came through the Underground had exceptionally powerful souls seemed unlikely. So either the barrier attracted powerful souls only allowed the powerful through, _or_ the encapsulating nature of the barrier, which kept the levels of magic in the atmosphere abnormally high, was somehow enhancing their abilities.

So many interesting possibilities.

Gaster returned to his office for the coffee pot and made a fresh pot and washed out his cup as he thought. It would still be a while before Koshka arrived, she was usually the first in.

Gaster filled his cup with coffee and walked back to the server room, pushing the door open and knocking on it with the back of his knuckles.

Frisk lifted their head and twisted around to look at him, "Mr. Gaster?" They asked softly, but not sleepily. Tension hunched their shoulders as they sat up.

"I would like to speak with you, Frisk." He said, "If you would be so kind as to join me in my office."

Frisk nodded and slowly stood, gathering the comforter they had slept on around their shoulders and following him back to his office.

.

(Next Update: November 10, 2016

Bit of a cliffhanger, those are always fun. Next entry is 17 too, gotta love an entry 17, this one won't be hidden in the game files though. See ya'll next week and thank you so much for reading and all the comments. Sorry, I still haven't replied to anything, my mental health is kinda not healthy right now. Also probably a lot of typos and mistakes for the same reason.)


	15. Entry 17

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Dark, Darker, Yet Darker.

The Darkness keeps growing.

The Shadows cutting deeper.

Photon readings negative.

This next experiment seems very, very interesting...

What do you two think?

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Entry 17: Frisk

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Frisk followed Gaster, entering his small office and sitting in one of the chairs across from the desk, wrapping the plush comforter tightly around themselves.

Gaster pulled the door shut behind him as he stepped inside, setting his cup on the desk and sitting down in the other chair in front of the desk, turning it to face Frisk.

Frisk studied him as he sat down, picking his coffee back up and cradling it between both hands. He looked tired and his shoulders drooped slightly which wasn't too strange until Frisk realized they had never seen Gaster with anything other than perfect posture.

They thought they ought to be nervous but mostly felt relieved that the conversation was finally happening. And after hearing all of Gob's stories last night, they felt more at ease.

Gaster's tone was soft and yet still clinical,"Yesterday, at approximately eight twenty in the morning, I experienced a strong sensation of deja-vu. The feeling persisted until I returned to the lab later that morning. In conversations with Sans I discovered that he too had experienced something like deja-vu at around the same time. He also mentioned that you seemed to be affected by something at the same time he was." He paused and turned the coffee cup in his hands, looking down into the nearly black liquid, "When I asked you, you said you didn't experience anything strange that morning. Yet my data suggests you did. I simply wish to know which is correct."

He looked up at them and his expression was not the hard and accusing one they expected only curious.

Frisk forced themselves not to fidget, "You asked me if I felt something like deja-vu and I hadn't," they said softly.

"But you felt something else," Gaster said, his eyes appraising them.

They nodded and watched Gaster.

He watched them.

Gaster took a drink of his coffee, sat it back on the desk and picked up a bowl of candy, filled mostly with individually wrapped suckers, holding it out to them, "Sweet?"

Frisk said suspiciously, "I just woke up."

"No, then?" Gaster slowly began pulling the bowl back.

After a second of indecision, Frisk darted forward, grabbing a yellow sucker. They were pleased to find that it was lemon flavored, the same sour-sweetness as the first one they had had.

"I am not going to force you to tell me anything, poppet." Gaster said, reclaiming his coffee and drinking it with a resigned air, "I would like to know but I am not going to force you."

Frisk nodded to themselves, half slumping down into the chair.

"The deja-vu I and Sans experienced was strong enough to make me think that we were experiencing a time loop. Am I wrong?" His voice was so, so gentle.

Frisk couldn't look up at him, slumping further into the chair and shaking their head.

"I was not wrong then..." Gaster said faintly, "I also had the feeling that you knew the king would be here this morning, with your sudden desire for me to stay the night, and sleeping in the server room. Although it could all be a coincidence."

They didn't answer, playing with the sucker sulkily.

Gaster nodded, "Is there anything I can do to encourage your trust in me?"

Frisk thought for a while and then slowly pushed themselves up in their chair, hesitantly meeting Gaster's eye, "A trade?"

He blinked and his brows rose slightly, "A trade? Of what sort?"

"Secrets for secrets." Frisk said.

Gaster drank more of his coffee, his index finger tapping the side of the white cup absently. He sighed and said, "I suppose that would only be fair. Should we arrange terms?"

Frisk wasn't entirely sure what he meant but nodded in agreement.

"Right. I suppose the basic outline would be, that neither my secrets nor yours can be told to anyone else, not even Koshka or Sans, unless we give express permission." Gaster said.

"Yes." Frisk agreed readily, "And they have to be good secrets so neither of us will tell. And you have to go first."

He nodded, "Of course, I am trying to win your trust not the other way around. I think also..." He paused and glanced around, "I think it would be best if we confined the discussions of our secrets to this room unless circumstances prompt otherwise. It will be easier to ensure we are not overheard."

"Perfect," Frisk nodded and said solemnly, "I promise not to tell your secrets if you don't tell mine. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. A secret's a secret, my word is forever, I will tell no one about your endeavor."

Gaster sat back, "Goodness. Human oaths are quite graphic aren't they? Well-" he cleared his throat absently and sat his cup down on the desk, "I do swear, by dust and magic, my soul in the balance, to keep these secrets in silence." He bowed his head gravely then asked, "Will that do?"

Frisk nodded.

Gaster took a deep breath and turned to the door, making sure it was shut and reached over to turn the lock with a grave expression before he spoke, "My exposure to Determination in the explosion has had far more disastrous results than I have led Sans and Koshka to believe. The night after the explosion, when I attempted to sleep my form... destabilized."

Frisk's brow furrowed.

"I began to melt," Gaster grimaced as if the whole idea was distasteful, "I appear to be able to maintain my form so long as I remain conscious, however, I will need to sleep at some point. If I cannot reduce the amount of Determination in my body before I am forced into unconsciousness by sleep, I will destabilize and likely be unable to reverse the process."

"You'd become a puddle of goo?" Frisk asked, "like the wicked witch of the west?"

Gaster shook his head slightly, "I'm afraid I don't understand the reference. My form would take on goo and slime aspects but the greater risk is to my mind. Destabilization by Determination would likely lead my mind-" His voice became choked and tight, "-to deteriorate quite significantly. I would not be the same person afterward."

"Oh." Frisk swallowed hard, they could understand that fear, "How come you don't want help from Sans or Koshka?"

He smiled sadly, "A monster's body is not strong enough to allow for Determination extraction. I believe my only option is to remove enough matter to allow my soul to truly balance out the Determination. I approached Koshka about removal but the rate she suggested would take months even on the most aggressive time table, and I do not have months. A week at most and my mind will be deteriorating rapidly from lack of sleep in the meantime." He rubbed his face wearily as if just thinking about it had made him tired.

"What are you going to do?" Frisk asked leaning forward in their chair.

Gaster reached over his desk, picking up a large notebook and handing it to them, "This is a modified design for one of my old machines I called the Excisior."

Frisk squinted at the drawing, the notes along the sides were all written in wingdings, "What does it do?" They looked up as Gaster held up both of his hands showing the two perfect circles cut from his palms. Frisk swallowed hard.

"This Excisior would be much larger." Gaster said taking the notebook back.

Their voice shook slightly as they asked, "Wh-where?"

He pointed to the middle of his chest, where his stomach might have been if he were human.

"How big?" They squeaked.

Gaster tilted his head as if gauging Frisk's temperament and then formed a loose circle with his hands about the size of a plate.

Frisk shivered, "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Of course." Gaster nodded, nonplussed. "Another reason not to tell Koshka and Sans. Between risking my body or risking my mind, there's no contest. I really can't see a point in living without my mind. They would not agree."

Frisk stiffened slightly, "But Sans and Papyrus," they protested faintly.

Gaster conceded a nod, "I would miss them but I have no guarantee that I would retain any memories or fondness for them after I destabilized and I would not be able to touch them without contaminating them. Sans, especially, can not afford any undue exposure to Determination."

Frisk nodded and finished their sucker in the quiet silence of the room.

Gaster focused on his coffee, drinking the rest of it with more dedication than pleasure.

"I can help." Frisk said softly.

"Can you?" Gaster's brows rose.

Frisk nodded, sitting up a little straighter, "I can. You were right about the time loop. I made it."

The cup in Gaster's hand jumped and he stared at them in shock.

"This is my secret." They emphasized sternly. Frisk waited until Gaster nodded before going on, "Yesterday morning, Sans snuck me upstairs to see Hotland and I felt- I was so impressed by everything that monsters had done that I felt like I could do anything too. There was a... it was..." their brow furrowed, "...I felt Determined, it was exciting and terrifying and wonderful and strange all at once."

Gaster nodded encouragingly.

Frisk continued, "I could feel it filling me up and I put out my hand and it made... it was like a ball of light made of fire and electricity. It felt like the world stopped for a second when I made it. I don't know what it is exactly but I know it was my magic. Sans couldn't see it."

"He couldn't?" Gaster leaned forward, putting his cup down and almost missing the desk in his haste.

Frisk shook their head, "I pointed it out to him and he thought I was pointing at the Core. So I touched it," they said hesitantly, glancing up at Gaster but he didn't yell at them so they went on with growing confidence, "When I touched it, it took me back to when I made it."

"It took you back in time?" Gaster asked.

Frisk nodded, "And it seemed to make Sans dizzy. I wanted to make sure it did what I thought it would, so I touched it again to make sure... and then, after that, I tried using it without touching it."

"Were you able to?" Gaster asked.

Frisk nodded, "Yeah, from a couple feet away but I stopped after that because it seemed like it was making Sans sick, so we went back downstairs."

"Fascinating." Gaster said absently, pulling a small notebook out from the inside pocket of his jacket and flipping it open, "That would line up with my first observation of multiple deja-vu events layered atop one another. What occurred to cause the second major time rewind? It seemed to be removed from the tests you described."

Frisk hesitated and pulled the comforter tighter around their shoulders.

"Did you attempt to use your Determination again, further removed by space and time?" Gaster asked.

"It wasn't on purpose," Frisk said softly.

Gaster nodded slightly and laced his fingers together on his knees, waiting patiently for Frisk to continue.

"I-" Frisk opened their mouth and the words choked at the back of their throat. They swallowed hard and then had to do it again. They pressed their eyes into the pink fabric, their words coming out shaky and muffled, "Last time, you weren't here. The king came and you weren't here."

Gaster leaned forward and gently smoothed their hair over and over again to calm them, "...What happened, poppet?" He said softly.

They let out a breath that shuddered and sniffled, "...he killed me."

The hand on their head stilled, "...and you were able to utilize the fixed point in time after he had?"

They nodded.

Gaster sat back, pulling his hand with him and snagged a sucker from his desk, popping it in his mouth. His eyes took on a slightly distant, contemplative expression as he twisted and spun the candy in his mouth.

Frisk wiped their eyes dry and took a deep breath to steady themselves. They looked at the doctor for a few silent moments then leaned down, pressing the stick from the sucker, still covered with a thin coating of tacky candy, on the end of Gaster's long coat until it stuck and sat back. Gaster hadn't even twitched.

Frisk sat back and did a little but of their own thinking, watching the candy spun in Gaster's mouth as his mind was a far away. They slid out of their chair and walked behind Gaster and around the desk. There was a gap on the back wall, between a pair of filing cabinets where a small garbage can had been pushing into the corner. Frisk pulled the garbage can out and stepped closer to the gap, putting their hand out in front of them and taking a deep breath focusing on their soul.

They were filled with Determination.

It pulsed through them like a second heartbeat, strong enough to beat death and time itself. Frisk let the breath out slowly and pushed the Determination with it, into their hand, into the world. Time stopped, all the tiny sounds on the edge of their mind disappearing into a silence so deep it was almost painful, and all they could hear was a single beat of their own heart before everything moved once more.

The star crackled and spit with power and potential like a sun.

Frisk shivered and dropped their arm. It had been easier this time.

They pushed the garbage can against the wall but left the gap for the star so it was unlikely anyone would accidentally touch it, just in case, and then returned to their seat. When they closed their eyes they could feel the new star like a light leaking through their eyelids.

There was a soft _ting_ that made Frisk open their eyes. Gaster had tossed his sucker stick into his empty coffee cup where it gently spun along the rounded edge with the last of its momentum.

"Fascinating," Gaster smiled.

Frisk looked at him.

"I'll be interested to explore the abilities and limits of your power."

"Me too," Frisk said.

Gaster nodded faintly, his hand coming up to rub his face, his fingers pressing into the crack running up through his skull until he winced, "I'm afraid my top priority, for now, is building the Exsisor and attempting removal before I run out of time."

"And I can help." Frisk said patiently, "If you die I can go back and tell you what happened."

Gaster brightened, "That reduces the risks considerably. You could also operate the machine. Having an outside operator would simplify the requirements of the machine significantly."

Frisk grimaced at the idea, "But then... If something went wrong, I would be the one that killed you."

Gaster waved his hand dismissively, "I understand the risks. It will be fine."

Frisk's brow furrowed. "But-"

A knock at the door interrupted them and Gaster leaned over, unlocking and pulling it open. Koshka was waiting on the other side with a clipboard and looking far too alert for this early in the morning.

"Sorry, to disturb you, Dr. Gaster," Koshka said, "I wanted to retest your D.T. levels and do a complete check up to make you're healthy."

Gaster sighed, "Must we, Koshka?"

"We must." She said flatly.

Gaster rose, "We shall continue our conversation at a later time, Frisk?"

Frisk nodded, collecting their comforter and pulling it around themselves. Gaster followed Koshka but didn't wait for Frisk or close them out of his office. Frisk glanced around the edge of the doorframe to make sure they were both out of sight and then stepped back into the office, hurrying around to Gaster's desk. They looked through the documents on top, make sure not to move anything from its original place. Everything was written in wing dings.

They pulled opened the drawers. Frisk paused as they saw the weird medical tool from the first day and picked it up, turning it over in their hand. There was a weird residue on the top of the gun like dust. When Frisk hesitantly touched it made their skin crawl, though it took them a second to realize why. It was something they had read about in the text books, that Monsters were made of matter and magic and that they turned to dust when they died.

Frisk dropped the tool back like it had burned them, covering it back up and sliding the drawer shut. They roughly wiped their hand off on their coveralls.

Frisk glanced around one last time and then left the office, pulling the door shut after them. They still had one more textbook to read through but there was something else they needed to learn first. Their feet took them back to the media room and Frisk pulled out various reports and other lab created documents.

They were about to give up when a thin, stapled packet fell out from between two reports. It was badly photocopied but the front page said; _Welcome the Royal Labs!_. Frisk flipped through the intro page, the safety protocol page until they found what they had been hoping for on the very last piece of paper, a key to reading wing dings.

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(Next Update: When my inspiration comes back from war.)


	16. An ending of a sort

I've been losing my drive for this fandom for a while and when I got scooped back into my old harry potter roots I kinda lost all my inspiration.

I just really don't think I'm going to be able to finish this story, at least not properly but leaving it without closure is also really shitty.

I hate getting into a fic and the author never finishes it.

So I'm gonna meet in the middle a little and give you an outline of what was going to happen.

I am sorry.

Thanks to those of you who stuck with me as long as you have.

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Sleep deprivation continued to weigh in on Gaster as he worked to create the Excisor. He would send his days working on the plans and collecting scrap to create it and at night he would make the machine.

By the third or forth day he begins to see things that aren't there, specifically, he sees what looks like a monster kid in grey but they always disappear when he tries to get a close look at them or speak with them. This is his living nightmare and perhaps not a complete hallucination.

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Whenever Gaster is out of his office to work on his machine, Frisk sneaks inside and reads his secret files. They're obsessed with finding out what he's hiding. The files they read and a few key conversations with Sans leads Frisk to find out about the D.T. experiments.

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As soon as the first soul fell, Gaster began experimenting on it. By the time the third fell, he had created a machine capable of removing the most potent force within the human soul, Determination. He had made a great many theoretical papers on the substance and believed that it might be the key to freedom for monsters.

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That was also the time he became enamored with the idea of children and being a father. Unfortunately, as much as he liked children, he had never bonded closely enough with another monster to be able to make a child, like not even close. Gaster does the math and thinks it might be possible to create a child alone and since the math works out, he gives it a shot.

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The first three attempts fail, the proto-soul shatters very early on. Gaster reworks his numbers and thinks more magic and more matter will stabilize the infant soul. He creates the first Excisor, removing the matter from his left palm and using it to create an infant soul, what would be Sans.

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Monster souls grow next to the parent soul, usually receiving additional magic from the other parent to aid growth and then once growth is complete they emerge and the baby's body forms. When Sans emerges his soul is underdeveloped and he falls down almost immediately upon his body forming. In a panic, Gaster risks everything to give Sans an infusion of D.T. the little skeleton receives minute traces of the soul extract until his soul and body stabilizes. Sans has the least amount of D.T. ever administered in the trials. His magic is strong because of the Determination, especially if he's feeling determined himself, but his body is very frail.

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In contrast, when Gaster make Papyrus years later, he forces Papyrus' soul to stay inside him longer than the infant soul wants to. This results in Papyrus having a strong, normal soul, although Gaster was bedridden for nearly six months to achieve it.

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Back to the D.T. trials. With the Sans survival, Gaster convinces the king that other monsters might be saved. A few fallen monsters are brought in, twelve in all over the course of a couple years, thirteen with Sans. Older monsters don't react well to the Determination and their souls would shatter with the infusion of the D.T. Younger monsters though, had about a 50/50 shot at surviving and waking to live normal lives after the procedure. Four young monsters were brought in, two lived, two died. One of the two that lived was Undyne, who lost her eye and almost died while training with her mother, the captain of the guard. Of the two that died, one was just too weak but the other, Goner, was a different story altogether.

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Goner, the Monster Kid, was the thirteenth patient brought in. They had fallen from a high walkway and no matter how much they were healed they wouldn't wake up. They reached well to the Determination infusions but Gaster was ready to take the tests farther. He didn't want to just revive fallen monster children, he wanted to make them stronger, better. He pushed more and more Determination into Goner until their body suddenly began to melt. Gaster and Koshka only knew one way to remove Determination, so they moved Goner to the D.T. extractor. The machine ripped Goner apart. Nothing was left afterwards.

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As Frisk is learning all of this. Gaster finishes his machine and late one night he coaches Frisk on how to use it. In that empty lonely lab the machine cuts through Gaster's stomach and kills him. Frisk has to watch him turn to dust, his soul shattering before their eyes. This is the last straw for them. They can no longer allow themselves to have any emotional connection with Gaster.

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They reload their save in his office and tell him the machine didn't work and he died. Gaster desperately tries to find an alternative. The last of sleep is pushing him into madness, he seems to see Goner everywhere and then begins to hear them saying cryptic things that circle endlessly in Gaster's mind.

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Gaster is sitting at his desk, head in his hands, trying to ignore the whispers and accidentally falls asleep. He begins to lose his shape to melt into his desk. Frisk happens upon him and goes to shake him awake and discovers something, very, very interesting. When they touch him, their Determination, resonates with his and his body stabilizes. He can sleep so long as Frisk is touching him.

This changes everything.

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Now Frisk has all the power in their relationship and no reason not to take advantage of it. At first they simply have Gaster teach them everything he knows, especially about magic. Then they get an idea. What if humans could be infused with magic the way Monsters can be infused with Determination? They plant the idea in Gaster's head and the idea fascinates Gaster as much as it does Frisk. He throws himself into the project without much thought into why Frisk would want to be infused with magic.

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Gaster eventually manages to create something like the D.T. extractor, based on older plans for a weapon that condensed a Monsters magic into a beam of pure destructive energy. He had shelved that project a long time ago because no monster would ever have enough magic to be capable of using the blasters. (save Sans)

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The first magic infusion is extremely painful and Frisk is sick for days afterwards with a fever but once they get better they find they can create basic magic attacks. They play with Papyrus, making attacks and play fighting but it isn't enough. Soon Frisk is pushing Gaster to give them another infusion and then another and another.

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Sans finds out whats happening and he thinks Gaster is manipulating Frisk into the experiments. On a day Gaster is taking Papyrus to school, Sans convinces Frisk to run away from the lab. They save first and then go, mostly out of curiosity. Sans takes them through Waterfall and Snowdin and all the way to a large stone door. There Sans thinks all hope it lost when they hear a gentle voice on the other side and after a tentative conversation, Toriel opens the door and brings them inside.

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Toriel gives them pie and lets them sleep in her house, quite happy to adopt the both of them and keep them safe from Gaster. Frisk is happy to stay their a while, the Ruins are beautiful and Toriel is kind. She shows Frisk her fire magic and Sans show them more of his gravity magic. Frisk is careful to never reveal the extent of their own magic while there.

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One night, Frisk reveals their own past. They were the child of two scientists that worked for a secretive r&d company deep in the mountains. The company's lab was in the foothills of Mt. Ebbott and all employees had homes provided for them in the surrounding woods. They were all beautiful modern houses but far enough apart that they were isolated from one another. Frisk's parents were cool and occasionally affectionate with them but even from a young age they had the feeling that they hadn't planned to have a child or wanted one much even now.

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Frisk managed to hack into the files on their parents computer while at work and discovered that Frisk was one of many children that were part of an experiment. Married employees were compensated for having one of the specially created and chosen embryos that eventually resulted in these children. The company was researching ancient texts and hoped to recreate humans capable of the magic spoken of in old stories. The children in the experiment were all ones with exceptionally strong souls.

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The children, Frisk included, grew up alone, with only their parents, tutors and the scientists for company. They never even glimpsed the other children that were part of the experiment. They were told when they went to the lab that it was for check up and school testing. The tests grew more and more intense as Frisk got older. Eventually they ended when nothing came of all the experiments and Frisk's parents promised that Frisk would never have to go back. They lied.

After Frisk found out their parents were gong to take them back to the lab for yet another round of testing, they ran away. This is how they came to fall into Mt. Ebbott.

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They feel relieved to finally have told someone their past but at the end of the day, they re-load their save and when Sans comes to convince them to run away, they stay.

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Frisk keeps pushing Gaster to give them more and more magic. Somewhat haunted by the memories of seeing Goner while sleep deprived Gaster becomes more and more reluctant. This is when Gaster realizes his mistake, realizes that he's not the one with power in their relationship. Not only can Frisk deprive him of sleep whenever they want, they can reload their save over and over and over again, until they convince him of the layered loading make both him and Sans so ill they collapse.

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Gaster gives in and gives Frisk the magic they ask for until Frisk hits their own threshold, where there is too much magic in their body and not enough matter and like Gaster and Goner they begin to melt and destabilize. They are able to load their save just in time but the memory of what happened haunts them. Even without more magic, Frisk can now materialize a weapon out of magic just like Asgore's. Theirs is a large spear, brilliant red in color. They can also manifest attacks, they use bone attacks just like the Font family and can use both blue and orange attacks.

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Frisk seems less and less like a child. They play with their magic in a way that speaks of obsession and they are constantly studying Gaster's papers to try and do more, be more. Sans can no longer be their friend and starts to see that Gaster was never the manipulator in the the relationship. He begins to fear for his brother and father.

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Things are growing more and more tense when Frisk asks Gaster to rebuild the time-machine. Sans begs Gaster not to. He sends Papyrus to their family home in Snowdin where it's safer. He tries to convince Gaster to come with him. He even tries to fight Frisk but he can't even begin to fight someone who can never die. He runs, determined to protect his brother at all costs.

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Gaster sees the machine as the only way out. He knows now, the machine can only go backwards in the Determination's own timeline. He rebuilds the machine and with all the assistants help, Gob, especially, he programs the time machine to go back beyond the explosion, to take Frisk away from their time.

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And Frisk uses the machine and finds themselves on a mountainside, the machine in wreckage behind them.

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Gaster now understands better the kind of damage his carelessness can cause. He eventually succumbs to the D.T. and melts. He can only touch his sons briefly. His mind deteriorates much slower, like dementia. He has a few years with his children and to train Alphys to be the next Head Scientist after him. Eventually his mind is left in a childlike state. Papyrus ends up being his main caretaker and loves and cares for his father unconditionally. It is not the life Gaster ever pictured for himself but he is happy.

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The finals scene you see is a young Frisk running through the forest, wearing the same clothes they fell in. They pause for a moment, glancing back through the trees, certain they saw something... that almost looked like them. They continue on, running up the mountain, tears streaking down their cheeks.

Once out of sight, Frisk, out Frisk, older in torn and stained clothing from the machine exploding, steps out onto the trail. The stretch their hand out and a blood red spear appears in it. Then they head down the trail, the opposite way their younger self went, towards the Lab that made them.

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End file.
